LIBRARY  OF  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 

PRINCETON,  N.  J. 
Presented  by 

The  Widow  o^  Gre©ng*TW<*n  ,  '% 

BX  9178  .G75  06 

Gregg,  David,  1846-1919. 

Our  best  moods 


a 


(Ha^cl    ^^-ff 


OUR  BEST  MOODS 


SOLILOQUIES  AND  OTHER 
DISCOURSES 


BY 

DAVID ^GREGG,  D.D. 

PASTOR  LAFAYETTE  AVENUE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 
BROOKLYN,  N.  Y. 


k 


NEW  YORK 

E.  B.  TREAT  &  COMPANY 

241-243  West  23D  Street 

OFFICE   OF  THE  TREASURY  MAGAZINE 


PUBLISHER'S   NOTE. 

THE  discourses  published  herein  were  delivered 
in  the  ordinary  course  of  the  Author's  pulpit 
ministrations ;  their  publication  has  been  urgently 
called  for  by  a  large  number  of  those  who  heard 
them. 

In  this  permanent  form  it  is  hoped  they  may 
prove  a  blessing  to  many  others. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

I.  Our  Best  Moods:  their  Origin  and  Use i 

II.  Soliloquy    in    Human    Life  :     its    Place    and 

Power 29 

III.  The  Face  of  Jesus  Christ 53 

IV.  Straightforward  Speech  and  Genuine  Life  .  .     81 

V.  Joseph's  Wagons  ;  or,  Faith's  Symbols 107 

VI.  "The  Indignation  of  a  Fine  Soul" 133 

VII.  Help  and  Cheer  from  the  Glorified  Dead...    157 
VIII.  Crucifying    Christ   while   Appropriating    His 

Robes 181 

IX.  The  Things  of  Childhood  to  be  Carried  into 

Mature  Life 209 

X.  Results  of  Communion  with  God 237 

XL  The   New  Testament  Christ  the  Old  Testa- 
ment Shekinah  261 

5 


6  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

XII.  The  Possibilities  of  Young  Men  in  our  Great 

Cities 285 

XIII.  Insects  with  Wings,  or  Beautified  Sins 311 

XIV.  Prayer  for  Instruction  in  Arithmetic 337 


I. 


OUR  BEST  MOODS:    THEIR  ORIGIN  AND 
USE. 


I. 


OUR   BEST   MOODS:  THEIR   ORIGIN 
AND    USE. 

"And  they  said  one  to  another,  Did  not  our  heart  burn  -within 
us,  while  He  talked  with  us  by  the  way,  and  while  He  opened  to  us 
the  Scriptures  ?  " — Luke  24 :  32. 

The  story  of  the  text  is  a  story  which  shows 
the  play  of  moods  in  human  life.  This  is  the  rea- 
son we  come  to  it  now.  We  covet  for  ourselves 
the  best  mental  frames,  the  best  states  of  heart, 
that  by  means  of  these  we  may  reach  a  perfect 
versus  a  partial  self.  We  believe  that  we  are  made 
by  our  moods ;  so  we  take  up  the  story  of  the 
text  that  we  may  analyze  the  moods  which  were 
the  hidden  forces  in  the  substructure  of  the  nature 
of  these  two  men,  Cleopas  and  his  friend. 

Who  were  Cleopas  and  his  friend?  No  one 
knows.  No  one  ever  heard  of  them  before.  They 
were  inconspicuous  and  unhistoric.  Outside  of 
this  story  they  have  no  existence.  Christ  had  only 
forty  days  to  spend  between  His  resurrection  and 
His  ascension,  and  yet  He  gave  a  full  half  day  of 

9 


IO  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

this  valuable  time  to  the  purifying  and  the  chang- 
ing and  the  reconstruction  of  the  moods  of  these 
humble  and  unknown  men.  This  certainly  reveals 
Christ's  estimate  of  man's  moods.  He  seeks  to 
make  these  right  in  order  that  He  make  the  man 
right.  He  found  Cleopas  and  his  friend  in  one  of 
the  lower  moods,  and  when  He  left  them  He  left 
them  in  one  of  the  higher  moods.  He  found  them 
facing  the  wrong  way,  He  left  them  facing  the 
right  way. 

The  story  of  Cleopas  and  his  friend  is  an  ex- 
ceedingly interesting  story.  It  is  climacteric  both 
in  substance  and  in  form.  It  is  more  like  an  acted 
drama  than  a  story.  We  are  interested  in  the  two 
sad-faced  men  as  they  quit  Jerusalem,  and  we 
enter  with  them  into  their  heart-sorrow ;  but  when 
the  unknown  stranger  joins  them,  and  throws  his 
life  into  their  life,  our  interest  rises  to  a  white-heat. 
The  center  of  their  thoughts  and  of  their  conversa- 
tion and  of  their  deep  feeling  is  Jesus.  Jesus  and 
their  moods  are  locked  and  interlocked.  Accord- 
ing as  they  see  Christ,  so  they  feel ;  and  according 
as  they  feel,  so  they  act.  Thus  it  has  been  for 
three  years.  The  disciples  of  the  Master  have 
been  bounding  and  rebounding  from  mood  to 
mood.  They  have  been  full  of  hope,  then  full  of 
discouragement.  They  have  been  enthusiastic, 
then  spiritless.  They  have  had  a  grand  perspect- 
ive, then  they  have  been  hemmed  in  on  every  side 
as  with  iron  clamps.     At  one  time  they  could  see 


THEIR   ORIGIN  AND   USE.  I  I 

everything,  and  then  at  another  time  they  could 
see  absolutely  nothing.  At  one  time  they  thought 
that  every  grand  thing  which  they  saw  in  Him 
was  about  to  be  realized,  and  they  rose  up  to  pro- 
claim Him  king ;  but  in  a  few  days  afterward  these 
very  same  things  scarcely  had  a  tentative  shape. 
Much  had  seemed  about  to  happen ;  but  nothing 
did  happen,  and  it  looked  as  though  nothing  could 
happen. 

The  sadness  of  these  two  friends,  as  they  walked, 
slow  of  foot  and  heavy  of  heart,  typified  the  mood 
of  all  the  disciples  of  Jesus.  They  had  a  dream 
of  a  regenerated  country ;  of  an  established  king- 
dom with  its  capital  at  Jerusalem ;  of  a  general 
transfiguration;  and  of  honors  and  emoluments 
which  would  soon  be  theirs.  They  had  enlarged 
views  of  Christ.  They  loved  the  Master  fervently. 
They  were  fascinated  by  His  teachings.  They 
were  awed  by  His  miracles.  They  were  ravished 
by  His  tender  affections.  They  had  given  up  their 
all,  and  had  devoted  themselves  for  all  they  were 
worth  to  Him  and  to  the  future  which  they  thought 
they  saw  opening  upon  the  world  through  Him. 
Now,  instead  of  realizing  these  fond  anticipations 
which  made  new  men  of  them,  what  had  come? 
What?  Inglorious  collapse!  A  cause  smitten  to 
the  dust  by  the  strong  arm  of  the  hated  Roman 
Empire ;  shattered  hopes ;  a  complete  disappoint- 
ment ;  a  cruel  deception ;  and,  above  all,  the  catas- 
trophe of  the  Cross.     These  were  sad  things   to 


12  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

talk  about,  but  these  were  the  only  things  they 
had  to  talk  about.  The  only  thing  not  sad  before 
them  was  a  certain  rumor  which  some  hysterical 
women  had  set  afloat,  that  His  tomb  was  empty 
and  He  had  been  seen  alive.  But  even  that  was 
sad  also,  because  it  was  such  an  utter  impossi- 
bility. 

Talking  only  made  matters  worse,  so  that  when 
the  unknown  stranger  joined  them  they  were 
completely  swayed  by  sadness.  Their  sad  faces 
framed  Christ's  salutation  :  "  What  maimer  of  com- 
munications are  these  that  ye  have  one  to  another, 
as  ye  walk,  and  are  sad?  " 

The  happenings  amid  which  they  had  lived  were 
so  much  a  part  of  their  lives,  that  they  wondered 
that  any  man  in  all  Jerusalem  could  be  ignorant  of 
them,  and  they  expressed  their  wonder.  "Art 
thou  only  a  stranger  in  Jerusalem,  and  hast  not 
known  the  things  which  are  come  to  pass  tliere  in 
these  days  ?  "  They  did  not  know  that  this  sympa- 
thetic friend  was  Jesus.  "Their  eyes  were  Jwlden." 
They  were  holden  by  what?  Holden  by  unpre- 
paredness  for  His  coming ;  by  wrong  views ;  by 
non-expectation;  by  man-manufactured  theories; 
by  ignorance  of  the  Scriptures.  No  one  knew 
better  what  had  taken  place  in  the  community  than 
Jesus.  Who  could  know  more  of  the  crucifixion 
than  He  ?  or  more  of  the  tomb,  full  or  empty,  than 
He?  or  more  of  His  reputed  resurrection  from 
the  dead  than  He?     But  mark  the  answer  which 


THEIR   ORIGIN  AND   USE. 


13 


He  returned  to  the  question  of  Cleopas.  His 
answer  was  this  :  "  What  things  ?  "  This  set  both 
of  the  men  talking,  and  they  recounted  everything ; 
and  more  than  this,  they  put  their  interpretation 
upon  the  sad  events.  They  gathered  up  the  frag- 
ments of  their  broken  hopes,  and  put  these  together 
again,  that  He  might  see  just  what  they  had  been 
cherishing  in  their  heart.  What  a  drama  this  is ! 
We  are  let  into  the  secret.  As  we  read  and  listen, 
how  impatient  we  grow,  and  how  anxious  we  be- 
come that  Cleopas  and  his  friend  may  know  all. 
We  anticipate  the  thrill  of  their  coming  discovery. 
I  call  this  magnificent  story-writing. 

Their  reply  to  the  question,  "What  things?  " — 
the  question  of  the  Master — is  really  part  of  the 
exposition  which  Jesus  gives  of  His  Messiahship. 
He  lets  them  say  that  they  had  trusted  that  Jesus 
was  He  who  should  have  redeemed  Israel,  and 
then  intimate  that  instead  of  redeeming  Israel  He 
had  abandoned  the  cause  of  Israel  at  the  critical 
moment.  He  lets  them  say  that  things  are  worse 
now  than  they  ever  have  been.  He  lets  them  say 
all  this  that  He  may  show  them  that  Jesus  was 
never  truer  to  the  cause  of  Israel  than  when  He 
died,  and  was  never  so  near  His  triumph  as  when 
his  enemies  nailed  Him  to  the  cross.  It  was  just 
then  that  He  nonplussed  the  powers  of  darkness. 
He  lets  them  tell  of  the  shipwreck  of  their  faith, 
and  enunciate  the  things  that  disappoint  them 
most ;  for  He  meant  to  make  evidences  out  of  their 


14  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

objections,  and  to  show  them  from  the  Scriptures 
that  the  very  things  which  perplexed  them  and 
broke  them  up  were  the  precise  things  which  the 
Scriptures  predicated  of  the  true  Messiah.  "Be- 
ginning at  Moses  and  all  the  prophets,  He  ex- 
pounded unto  them  in  all  the  Scriptures  the  things 
concerning  Himself." 

It  was  the  Scriptures,  the  Holy  Bible,  which 
Jesus  used,  in  order  to  lift  these  men  from  the 
lower  mood  into  the  higher  mood.  It  was  by  un- 
folding the  Scriptures,  and  by  filling  their  whole 
being  with  the  truths  of  the  Bible,  that  He  changed 
their  views,  repleted  them  with  rapturous  joy,  and 
made  new  men  out  of  them.  Mark  this :  Jesus 
Christ  the  perfect  man  honored  the  Bible.  He 
recognized  it  as  the  repository  of  truth.  He  in- 
dorsed it  as  a  divine  power.  He  exalted  it  as  the 
touchstone  by  which  ideas  and  doctrines  and  senti- 
ments and  duties  are  to  be  tested.  He  used  it  as 
evidence.  What  is  evidence  ?  It  is  that  which 
satisfies  a  man  from  top  to  bottom — his  intellect, 
his  conscience,  his  affections,  his  tastes,  his  emo- 
tions, every  part  of  him.  In  the  case  of  Cleopas 
and  his  friend,  the  Bible,  as  used  by  the  Master, 
did  all  this.  The  Scriptures  opened  produced 
faith ;  and  faith  quickened  resulted  in  hearts  that 
burned  ;  and  hearts  that  burned  with  every  faculty 
on  fire,  scintillating  and  corruscating,  saw  the  true 
Christ.  A  heart  on  fire  is  the  symbol  of  intense 
life.      Now,    intensity   of    life   is   what   we   should 


THEIR   ORIGIN  AND   USE.  15 

possess  when  we  deal  with  Jesus.  It  enlarges  fel- 
lowship, makes  us  more  receptive,  and  gives  us 
keen  perceptions. 

With  what  did  the  hearts  of  these  two  burn? 
They  burned  with  joy.  They  burned  with  a  new 
admiration  of  Jesus.  They  burned  with  a  new 
sense  of  His  mastery  over  affairs.  They  burned 
with  a  sense  of  shame,  too,  that  they  should  have 
done  Him  the  injustice  of  supposing  that  He  had 
deserted  them  and  the  cause  which  He  introduced 
into  the  world.  They  burned  with  the  glow  of 
rekindled  hopes.  They  burned  with  a  fresh  confi- 
dence in  the  Christ.  They  burned  with  bright 
anticipations  of  a  glorious  future.  No  wonder  their 
hearts  burned.  They  had  gotten  back  their  Christ, 
and  He  had  charmed  away  their  griefs,  and  had 
filled  them  with  unspeakable  comfort. 

To  me  there  is  a  perfect  charm  in  the  way  the 
story  tells  us  how  Cleopas  and  his  friend  got  back 
their  Christ.  They  say  to  their  hearts,  "  This 
stranger  is  a  friend  of  the  Master;  he  understands 
the  Master;  he  completely  trusts  the  Master;  he 
thoroughly  knows  what  the  Master  should  be,  and 
what  the  Master  is."  Because  of  this  they  feel  it 
good  and  uplifting  to  be  in  the  presence  of  this 
stranger.  When  they  reach  the  white  houses  and 
the  lemon  groves  of  Emmaus,  as  the  red  sun  sinks 
in  the  western  sky  over  the  hills  of  Ephraim,  their 
hearts  cling  to  the  new-made  friend.  When  He 
would  go  on  alone,  they  plead  with   Him,  "Abide 


1 6  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

ivith  ?is."  When  He  accepts  of  their  pressing  in- 
vitation and  sits  down  with  them  to  enjoy  the 
evening  meal,  He  reverently  lifts  His  voice  in 
prayer  and  asks  a  blessing,  just  as  Jesus  was  wont 
to  do  in  the  happy  days  of  old.  Then  their  hearts 
instinctively  say,  "  How  like  the  Master  Himself 
this  new-found  friend  of  Jesus  is!"  With  this 
state  of  feeling  reached,  they  are  ready  for  the  last, 
the  revealing  act  of  this  wonderful  but  captivating 
stranger,  viz.,  the  breaking  of  the  bread  which  has 
just  been  blessed.  It  was  in  the  performance  of 
this  act  that  they  knew  Him.  As  he  lifted  the 
bread  and  handed  it  to  them  they  saw  the  print  of 
the  nail  in  His  hand,  and  at  once  knew  that  it  was 
the  crucified  hand  of  the  Crucified  One  that  min- 
istered to  them.  God  be  praised !  The  Scriptures 
are  fulfilled !  The  resurrection  story  of  the  morn- 
ing is  true!  Christ  is  alive  again!  They  can 
stand  nothing  more  than  that;  hence  the  most 
merciful  thing  Jesus  can  do  is  to  do  what  he  does, 
vanish  for  the  time  out  of  their  sight.  He  has 
lifted  them  into  the  highest  possible  mood,  and  all 
that  is  necessary  is  to  allow  that  mood  full  play. 
It  will  do  all  the  rest.  It  will  take  Cleopas  and  his 
friend  back  to  Jerusalem,  and  will  make  them  for- 
ever witnesses  of  the  resurrection  and  heralds  of 
the  glorious  gospel.  "And  they  rose  up  the  same 
hour,  and  returned  to  Jerusalem;  .  .  .  and  they 
told  what  things  were  done  in  the  way,  and  how 
He  teas  known  of  them  in  breaking  of  bread." 


THEIR    ORIGIN  AND   USE.  I  7 

What  did  Jesus  do  in  order  to  lift  these  disciples 
to  that  high  mood  which  changed  their  whole  life  ? 
He  did  this :  by  the  use  of  the  Bible  He  put  hope 
into  the  hearts  of  Cleopas  and  his  friend.  By  hope 
they  were  saved.  When  hope  is  gone,  life  and 
impulse  are  gone.  There  are  no  songs  in  the 
night.  There  is  no  effort.  There  is  no  progress. 
Bunyan  shows  us  this  in  that  marvelous  parable 
of  life,  "  The  Pilgrim's  Progress."  Cleopas  and  his 
friend  were  like  Pilgrim  in  one  of  his  dark  experi- 
ences. Pilgrim  on  one  occasion  fell  into  the  hands 
of  Giant  Despair,  and  the  giant  shut  him  up  in  a 
black  dungeon  in  Doubting  Castle.  And  how  did 
Pilgrim  act  and  talk  then?  What  was  his  mood? 
How  did  he  feel  ?  He  said  to  himself,  "All  things 
are  at  an  end.  No  more  sunny  roadway.  No 
more  pleasant  conversation  with  friends.  No  more 
songs  in  the  night.  No  more  the  reaching  out  of 
a  helping  hand  to  some  fallen  brother.  No  more 
gleams  and  glimpses  of  the  Eternal  City.  Nothing 
in  the  future  but  darkness,  helplessness,  and  de- 
spair." Suddenly  he  remembered  a  key  formerly 
given  him,  and  which  he  had  put  for  safe-keeping 
in  his  bosom.  He  began  at  once  searching  for 
that  key,  for  as  he  fumbled  around  the  door  of  the 
dungeon  the  question  came  to  him  :  "  What  if  this 
hidden  key  of  mine  should  fit  this  lock,  and  turn 
this  bolt,  and  give  me  freedom  ?  It  may  be  that 
this  key  was  given  me  for  such  an  hour  as  this." 
The  thought  was  an  intuitive  thought,  and  the 


1 8  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

intuition  proved  as  true  as  the  God  who  sent  it. 
Pilgrim  found  that  the  lock  and  key  matched  ;  and 
with  the  key  of  hope  the  bolt  of  despair  was  turned 
back  with  perfect  ease.  When  once  this  bolt  was 
turned  the  door  of  the  dungeon  sprung  wide  open 
of  its  own  accord,  and  Pilgrim  was  out  again  in  the 
sunlight,  a  free  man.  Looking  up  to  the  heights 
of  the  Mount  of  Glory,  he  saw  there  full  in  view 
the  Celestial  City  with  its  streets  of  gold  and  its 
shining  walls  of  precious  stones.  Methinks,  too, 
that  his  vision  during  his  first  moments  of  freedom 
were  so  keen,  so  microscopic,  and  so  telescopic, 
that,  looking  through  the  open  door  of  the  palace 
up  there,  as  an  angel  turned  the  pages  of  the 
Lamb's  Book  of  Life,  he  actually  caught  a  glimpse 
of  his  own  name  upon  one  of  the  crystal  oages. 
Of  one  thing  we  are  absolutely  certain,  and  that 
is,  from  that,  moment  on  Pilgrim  went  forward  on 
his  pilgrimage  with  a  fresh  zeal  and  an  unflagging 
step.  Christ  fired  Cleopas  and  his  friend  with 
hope.  With  the  key  of  hope  He  unlocked  the 
dungeon  of  the  lower  mood  in  which  they  were 
imprisoned,  and  opened  for  them  the  door  into  the 
sunshine  of  a  higher  mood. 

There  are  three  points  which  I  wish  to  evolve 
from  this  story,  and  these  I  shall  now  set  in  order. 

I .  We  are  all  creatures  of  moods,  and  our  moods 
determine  our  living. 

For  the  most  part  we  act  as  we  feel.  Emotion 
is  life.      Stag-nation  is  death.     What  is  water  in  a 


THEIR    ORIGIN  AXD   USE.  19 

stagnant  pool  worth?  It  has  nothing  of  the  music 
of  the  brook  in  it.  It  turns  no  mill.  It  gladdens 
no  meadow.  It  is  water  in  motion  that  is  life,  and 
that  is  valuable.  Water  in  motion  :  sailing  through 
the  heavens  in  clouds;  pattering  in  the  April 
shower ;  leaping  in  the  cataract ;  throbbing  in  the 
mighty  tides  of  the  ocean — that  is  the  life  of 
nature.  So  it  is  in  the  human  world.  It  is  not 
the  men  who  stagnate,  but  the  men  who  circulate, 
who  pulsate,  that  are  life  and  power.  It  is  the 
emotive  men,  the  men  who  have  large  capacity  for 
feeling.  "  Modern  science  has  brought  out  this 
truth  most  wonderfully  in  its  great  discovery  that 
all  forces  are  only  '  modes  of  motion.'  So  it  is 
'  motion  '  with  the  letter  '  e '  prefixed — '  emotion  ' 
— that  lies  at  the  heart  of  all  the  transformations 
and  all  the  progress  of  human  life."  As  men  are 
under  the  influence  of  the  emotions — love,  hate ; 
trust,  fear ;  hope,  despair ;  admiration,  repulsion — 
so  will  they  act.  These  emotions  create  moods, 
and  moods  create  life. 

We  all  know  how  our  moods  govern  us,  and 
how  quickly  we  pass  from  mood  to  mood.  One 
morning  I  heard  a  mother  ask  her  little  child, 
who  had  wakened  in  good  spirits,  "  Whom  does 
baby  love?"  The  little  thing  answered  gleefully, 
"Baby  loves  everybody."  Five  minutes  after  the 
child  became  dispirited ;  the  same  voice  asked  the 
same  question,  "Whom  docs  baby  love?"  and  the 
answer    this    time    was,    "Baby    loves    zionebody." 


20  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

What  was  the  cause  of  this  change  of  conduct? 
A  change  of  mood.  That  was  all.  But  that  was 
everything.  It  meant  a  change  in  the  spirit  and 
conduct  and  life  of  the  child.  We  have  an  illus- 
tration of  the  same  kind  in  the  experience  of  the 
Hebrews  on  the  border  of  the  Promised  Land. 
Look  into  the  faces  of  the  Hebrews  when  Joshua 
and  Caleb  return  as  spies  from  Canaan  and  tell  of 
the  wonders  of  the  land.  The  multitude  go  into 
raptures  over  the  land  when  they  hear  of  the  milk 
and  the  honey  which  are  there,  and  when  they  see 
samples  of  the  grain  and  of  the  luscious  clusters. 
The  leaders  can  scarce  restrain  the  army  from  tak- 
ing up  the  march  at  once.  But  mark  you  how  in 
a  moment  everything  changes !  The  spies  utter 
one  sentence  which  drives  hope  out  of  their  lives. 
It  is  this:  "There  are  giants  in  the  land."  This 
changes  their  mood,  and  they  talk  differently : 
"  We  do  not  care  much  for  Canaan — never  did. 
We  do  not  drink  milk — never  did.  We  do  not 
like  honey — never  did  ;  it  is  so  sweet  that  it  sickens 
us.  The  Promised  Land,  after  all,  is  only  hills. 
Egypt  is  good  enough  for  us.  Let  us  go  back  to 
Egypt." 

Life  is  full  of  moods.  That  is  our  point.  There 
are  in  it  moods  of  unfaith,  moods  of  scorn,  moods 
of  indifference,  and  Sadducean  moods.  There  are 
in  it  low  moods,  which  may  come  from  ill-health 
and  physical  feebleness,  or  from  fatigue  of  mind,  or 
from  oppressive  rivalries,  or  from  disappointment. 


THEIR    ORIGIN  AND   USE.  2  1 

We  need  rest ;  we  need  sleep.  In  these  moods 
our  moral  discrimination  is  blunted,  our  reason  is 
warped.  We  have  the  testimony  only  of  our 
weariness ;  we  are  full  of  apprehension,  fear,  fore- 
boding. 

Life  is  full  of  moods.  That  is  our  point.  There 
are  in  it  moods  of  hope,  moods  of  love,  moods  of 
consecration,  moods  of  faith,  moods  of  expectancy, 
moods  of  joy,  and  sacramental  moods.  These  are 
the  better  moods,  and  are  full  of  inspiration  and 
light.  They  are  full  of  heart-life  with  its  intensi- 
ties and  raptures.  In  them  all  the  faculties  of  man 
are  awake  and  in  exercise.  Man  is  clear-thoughted 
and  large-hearted.  Reason  and  conscience  and 
the  faculty  of  vision  are  all  clarified.  These  are 
the  moods  which  we  should  choose  and  seek ;  for 
out  of  them  may  be  constructed  a  beautiful  and 
Christlike  life. 

Just  here  comes  in  my  second  point,  and  it  comes 
in  here  for  our  encouragement.      It  is  this : 

2.   There  is  a  zvay  of  read  ling  the  high  moods. 

Cleopas  and  his  friend  reached  an  apocalyptic 
mood.  The  Bible  introduces  us  to  a  troop  of  men 
linng  in  the  best  mood.  Jesus  had  His  moods. 
It  was  not  all  a  Gethsemane  mood  with  Him;  He 
had  His  transfiguration  night  and  His  hosanna  day. 
The  shepherds  had  their  uplift ;  it  was  the  holy 
night.  The  world  was  never  the  same  after  that 
night.  Something  had  happened.  The  old  had 
passed   away  and   the   new  had   come.      God   had 


22  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

wrought  by  His  quiet  power  a  great  revolution. 
Run  down  the  names  that  tower  in  history,  and 
notice  the  high  place  which  the  best  moods  have : 
Bethel  was  a  high  mood  in  Jacob's  life ;  Pisgah  in 
Moses'  life ;  Horeb  in  Elijah's  life ;  the  house-top 
vision  at  Joppa  in  Peter's  life ;  Patmos  in  John's 
life ;  and  the  third-heaven  translation  in  Paul's 
life. 

I  urge  upon  those  young  in  years  who  are 
just  entering  the  Christian  life  to  seek  the  best 
moods,  and  to  store  their  natures  brimful  with 
hope,  that  element  which  is  the  largest  constituent 
of  a  best  mood.  I  preach  hope  for  everybody, 
even  for  those  who  are  in  the  midst  of  reverses. 
There  is  nothing  better  that  we  can  have.  No  one 
should  distrust  hope.  It  is  not  a  cheat  foisted 
upon  human  life.  It  is  not  a  mirage  making 
beautiful  pictures  on  the  air  of  something  that  does 
not  exist.  It  is  not  a  will-o'-the-wisp  flitting 
before  us  and  leading  us  into  a  bog.  It  is  a  vital 
force  putting  power  into  the  roots  of  our  being. 
Let  me  illustrate.  Let  me  take  an  ultra  case. 
You  are  a  business  man,  and  a  man  disappointed 
in  business.  The  most  hated  thing  in  the  world 
is  your  ledger.  You  hate  it  because  it  tells  the 
tale  of  the  wreck  of  your  hopes.  Is  there  any 
harm  in  your  resting  your  head  on  your  hand  over 
that  ledger,  in  which  the  balance  comes  out  on 
the  wrong  side,  and  dreaming  that  you  will  have 
something  better  by  and  by  ?     No.      Not  a  bit   of 


THEIR    ORIGIN  AND   USE.  23 

harm.  It  will  refresh  you.  It  will  give  a  new 
spring  and  vigor  to  your  future  attacks  on  the 
problems  of  your  life. 

Do  our  young  friends  ask  me,  Hozv  can  we 
reach  the  best  moods  in  life  ?  I  answer  their 
question  by  asking,  Hozv  did  Cleopas  and  Iris  friend 
reach  their  best  mood  ?     They  are  our  guides. 

(a)  They  readied  their  best  mood  by  living  with 
the  open  Bible. 

Do  likewise,  and  you,  too,  shall  reach  your  best 
mood.  Here  is  where  you  get  hope.  Here  is 
where  the  bells  of  promise  ring.  Is  there  any 
grander  hope  in  the  universe  than  the  hope  of  the 
resurrection,  or  the  hope  of  likeness  to  God,  or  the 
hope  of  perfection?  These  are  all  in  the  Book. 
We  want  something  to  implant  in  our  natures  the 
hopes  and  feelings  and  sympathies  and  loves  and 
joys  that  center  in  the  nature  of  Christ.  The 
Bible  does  that.  Moods  are  results.  Emotions 
are  always  the  subjects  of  conditions.  They  do 
not  come  and  go  at  call.  Feelings  follow  causa- 
tions. Ideas  produce  feelings.  Elemental  truths 
produce  feelings.  What  mood  do  you  want  ?  The 
faith  mood?  The  ideas  and  elemental  truths  to 
produce  faith  are  in  the  Book.  So  are  the  ideas 
and  elemental  truths  requisite  to  produce  the  joy 
mood,  the  love  mood,  the  hope  mood,  the  sacra- 
mental mood.  The  way  into  the  best  mood  is 
through  the  diligent  and  prayerful  use  of  God's 
Word,  the  Bible. 


24  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

(b)  They  reached  their  best  mood  through  as- 
sociation with  Jesus  Christ. 

Usually  our  best  moods  come  to  us  from  our 
best  associations.  Christ  raised  their  minds  into 
contact  with  His,  and  this  was  the  secret  of  their 
leap  from  the  lower  mood  to  the  higher  mood. 
Between  them  and  the  Master  there  was  the  ming- 
ling of  soul  with  soul,  heart  with  heart,  spirit  with 
spirit,  and  life  with  life.  The  Christ  mood  is  the 
highest  mood.  The  result  was  they  reached  that. 
They  thought  as  Christ  thought,  and  they  felt  as 
Christ  felt. 

But  I  must  hasten  to  my  last  point.  It  is  the 
practical  application  of  the  sermon.      It  is  this : 

3.  There  is  a  profitable  way  of  using  our  best 
moods. 

We  should  convert  them  into  inspiring  memories. 

We  should  gather  them  as  men  gather  and  store 
electricity.  We  should  turn  them  into  perpetual 
fountains  of  joy.  They  can  ever  remain  in  our 
experience  as  reminders  of  our  possibilities.  They 
can  create  renewed  expectations  of  a  second  bene- 
fit. Cleopas  and  his  friend  drew  fresh  joy  out  of 
their  best  mood  after  Jesus  had  vanished  out  of 
their  sight.  "And  they  said  one  to  another,  Did 
not  our  heart  burn  within  us,  while  He  talked 
with  us  by  the  way,  and  while  He  opened  to  us  the 
Scriptures  ?  "  They  relived  the  scenes  of  their 
best  mood.  They  treasured  their  mood  as  an 
ideal.      They  set  it  up  in  their  life  as  a  standard. 


THEIR    ORIGIN  AND    USE.  25 

We  sliould  make  our  best  moods  the  court  of 
decision  in  life. 

Too  many  things  are  settled  in  the  lower  court 
of  our  nature,  where  pride  and  vanity  and  avarice 
are  on  the  bench,  and  where  carnal  policy  pleads 
at  the  bar.  Too  many  things  are  settled  in  our 
lower  moods  when  single  faculties  of  our  souls  only 
are  active  and  brought  into  play.  In  our  higher 
moods,  all  the  faculties  of  our  souls  are  awake  and 
are  at  work.  Then  the  mind  perceives  things 
intuitively,  and  the  conscience  is  exceedingly  sen- 
sitive to  right  and  wrong.  Reason  is  calm,  the 
moral  feelings  are  aroused,  and  everything  fine 
in  our  nature  is  in  the  ascendency.  The  feelings 
are  heroic,  and  the  vision  is  luminous.  The  soul 
sweeps  along  the  lines  of  its  purest  ideals.  The 
man  feels  that  he  is  a  son  of  God.  The  chief- 
justice  in  the  spirit  of  man  is  above  and  beyond  a 
bribe.  This  is  the  court  in  which  to  adjudicate 
the  claims  of  God  and  of  mankind,  and  in  which 
to  decide  as  to  what  is  right  and  wrong,  and  what 
is  duty.  This  is  the  court  into  which  to  bring  our 
doubts  and  cases  of  casuistry.  This  is  the  court 
whose  decisions  upon  all  matters  of  principle  and 
sentiment  and  conduct  may  be  counted  upon  as 
almost  infallible. 

We  should  translate  our  best  moods  into  actual 
life. 

That  is  what  Cleopas  and  his  friend  did  ;  their 
best  mood  became  a  journey  to  Jerusalem  and  a 


26  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

testimony  to  the  risen  Christ.  We  should  give 
our  moods  a  practical  turn.  This  is  what  Jesus 
did  with  His  highest  earthly  mood,  His  transfigu- 
ration wood.  He  compelled  it  to  get  Him  ready 
for  Calvary.  He  occupied  its  precious  and  uplift- 
ing moments  in  talking  with  Moses  and  Elijah 
about  the  decease  which  He  should  accomplish  at 
Jerusalem.  Our  best  moods,  in  which  the  pulse 
is  quickened,  and  the  love  fired,  and  the  brain 
made  large-thoughted,  are  only  the  initial  condi- 
tion of  a  life  more  permanent  and  better.  These 
must  result  in  purposes,  and  in  volitions,  and  in 
intellectual  states,  and  in  character,  and  in  conduct. 
There  must  be,  as  an  outcome  from  them,  a  jour- 
ney to  Jerusalem,  and  a  testimony  for  Christ.  Our 
best  moods  should  be  productive ;  they  should 
give  the  world  something  grand  and  permanent. 
David's  best  mood  gave  the  world  the  twenty-third 
Psalm ;  Paul's,  the  eighth  chapter  of  the  Epistle 
to  the  Romans ;  John's,  the  Apocalypse.  These 
magnificent  writings  are  all  embodied  moods.  When 
we  go  into  the  midst  of  the  affairs  of  the  world 
we  should  take  our  visions  with  us,  and  we  should 
aim  to  materialize  them  in  actualities.  The  moods 
of  an  interesting  and  uplifting  Sabbath  in  the  tem- 
ple of  God  should  fruit  in  a  truer  life  in  the  home, 
and  in  the  social  circle,  and  in  the  realm  of  busi- 
ness. Our  best  moods  should  lay  hold  on  the 
commonplace  things  of  life  and  turn  them  into  sac- 
ramental  things  for  the   service   of  God,  as  Moses 


THEIR    ORIGIN  AND    USE.  2  J 

laid  hold  of  and  turned  the  cedar  wood  and  the 
canvas  and  the  fine-twined  linen  and  the  gold  anil 
silver  into  a  Holy  Tabernacle.  Every  grand  thing 
that  has  come  from  the  hand  of  man  is  simply  a 
higher  mood,  with  its  holy  feelings  and  uplifting 
visions,  translated  by  the  patience  and  toil  of  man 
into  some  serviceable  and  permanent  form.  Look 
at  the  "  Sistine  Madonna  "  !  You  are  lost  in  won- 
der at  its  ideal  beauty.  But  what  is  it  ?  And 
what  is  it  made  of?  It  is  a  common  piece  of  can- 
vas ;  common  pigments  ;  earths  ;  extracts  ;  things 
which  would  soil  the  hands  if  you  should  touch 
them.  The  maker  was  an  intense  soul,  and  an 
infinite  patience ;  the  whole  work  is  just  the  best 
mood  of  the  artist,  captured  and  wrought  out,  and 
materialized  and  made  serviceable,  and  immortal- 
ized. Every  high  mood  which  God  gives  us 
should  produce  the  equivalent  of  a  "  Sistine 
Madonna,"  or  should  give  the  world  an  Apoca- 
lypse, or  shouid  fruit  in  a  journey  to  Jerusalem, 
and  in  a  public  testimony  to  the  risen  Christ. 

Lord  grant  us  the  beatific  vision  to-day.  We 
need  it  to  ennoble  this  life.  We  need  it  as  a  solace. 
So  set  before  us  the  self  we  should  reach  that  it 
cannot  be  rubbed  out  in  forgetfulness.  Help  us 
to  realize  our  high  calling  in  Christ  Jesus.  Let 
our  whole  life  be  a  life  of  ascending.  Make  our 
souls  as  sensitive  to  the  touch  of  Jesus  as  the  harp 
is  to  the  touch  of  the  skillful  harper.  Walk  with 
us  as  we  journey  to  the  Emmaus  of  the  skies,  and 


28  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

by  Thy  sweet  and  tender  fellowship  lift  our  souls 
into  the  divinest  of  moods.  And  then  give  us 
grace  that  we  may  translate  our  best  moods  into 
the  best  of  lives,  into  an  eighth  chapter  of  the 
Epistle  to  the  Romans,  into  the  expressed  confi- 
dence of  a  shepherd  Psalm,  and  into  a  public  and 
fearless  and  consistent  testimony  for  Thee  in  the 
midst  of  Jerusalem.     Amen. 


II. 


THE  PLACE  AND  POWER  OF   SOLILOQUY  IN 
HUMAN  LIFE. 


II. 

THE    PLACE    AND    POWER    OF  SOLILO- 
QUY   IN    HUMAN    LIFE. 

"Commune  with  your  own  heart." — Psalm  4:4. 

The  greatness  of  man  and  the  possibilities  which 
are  wrapped  up  in  his  nature  should  be  the  con- 
stant topic  of  man.  Man,  when  he  becomes  what 
it  is  possible  for  him  to  become,  stands  next  to 
God.  It  is  the  duty  of  every  man  to  reach  this 
high  place.  Man  next  to  God !  This  is  no  fancy. 
This  is  a  fact.  Everywhere  our  minds  perceive  it. 
We  perceive  it  as  we  stand  amid  the  wonderful 
inventions  of  the  nineteenth  century.  The  master- 
ful way  in  which  inventors  have  seized  and  tamed 
the  elements  of  nature,  combining  a  first  power 
with  a  second  power  and  thereby  making  a  third 
power,  a  new  force ;  harnessing  the  vapor,  and 
handling  the  electric  bolt,  and  linking  continent  to 
continent — all  of  these  things  remind  us  of  the 
Creator  Himself.  Using  the  forces  of  nature  as 
man  uses  them  is  next  to  creating  the  forces  of 
nature  and  giving  them  a  being. 

31 


j2  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

A  traveler  of  note  once  stood  upon  the  rock  by 
the  side  of  Niagara  Falls.  But  he  noticed  not  the 
splashing  cataract  with  its  white  foam  and  flashing 
rainbows ;  his  eye  and  mind  were  fastened  upon 
the  suspension  bridge,  which  the  daring  skill  of 
man  had  thrown  as  if  by  magic  over  the  river. 
This  was  the  reason  which  he  gave  for  his  conduct : 
"All  things  considered,  the  bridge  is  the  greater 
wonder.  It  is  nothing  for  the  infinite  God  to  pour 
out  from  His  unmeasured  hand  this  stream  of  water 
over  these  rocks ;  but  it  is  a  marvelous  something 
for  limited  man  to  bridge  this  tumultuous  chasm." 
Considering  the  different  factors  at  work,  the  tour- 
ist was  right. 

Man  next  to  God!  This  is  no  fancy.  This  is 
a  fact.  Everywhere  our  minds  perceive  it.  We 
perceive  it  in  the  world  of  human  sacrifice.  The 
nineteenth  century  gives  us  striking  specimens  of 
absolute  surrender  of  self  for  the  blessing  of  man- 
kind. Missionaries  of  the  cross  go  into  the  Lazar- 
house,  that  at  the  cost  of  their  earthly  all  they 
may  bring  eternal  salvation  to  the  lost.  Within 
one  hour  of  our  city,  the  other  day,  an  engineer 
of  a  locomotive  which  drew  a  train  heavily  freighted 
with  human  life  saw  on  the  track  before  him  a  dead 
engine.  That  meant  that  in  a  minute  more  there 
would  be  a  wreck.  And  what  did  the  man  do? 
With  a  divine  heroism  he  sprang  to  the  rear  of  the 
wood-car  and  uncoupled  the  engine  from  the  train, 
sprang  back  to  his  place  and  drew  the  lever,  and 


POWER  OF  SOLILOQUY  IN  HUMAN  LIFE.       33 

with  all  the  head  of  steam  possible  dashed  into  the 
dead  engine  with  a  force  which  lifted  both  engines 
from  the  track.  The  oncoming  and  detached  train 
had  a  clear  way  and  passed  by  in  safety.  But 
what  became  of  the  brave  engineer?  Why  ask 
that  question  ?  There  was  only  one  thing  possible 
for  him.  The  man  made  a  certain  and  an  absolute 
sacrifice  of  himself,  and  that  for  the  purpose  of 
saving  the  lives  of  his  fellow-men.  He  was  so 
crushed  that  when  they  took  him  from  the  ruins 
he  was  not  recognizable.  I  was  on  the  train 
behind  that  train.  But  little  did  I  dream  of  the 
heroism  that  was  being  enacted,  as  I  chafed  under 
the  midnight  delay,  not  knowing  the  cause.  But 
since  then  I  have  often  thought  of  that  heroism, 
and  I  have  often  said  to  myself,  "  In  grand  and 
absolute  sacrifice  of  self,  man,  when  he  is  at  his 
best,  is  next  to  God."  This  man  gave  all  that 
he  was  capable  of  giving;  God  can  do  no  more. 
Man  living  the  new  life,  sacrificing,  exercising 
patience,  delighting  in  holiness  and  truth  and  love, 
working  out  great  and  everlasting  principles,  revel- 
ing in  the  pure  and  the  spiritual,  giving  himself  to 
those  who  have  need  of  him  and  of  his  help,  what 
or  who  is  beyond  him  but  God? 

I  am  not  afraid  to  exalt  the  greatness  of  man 
when  he  conforms  to  the  divine  ideal,  and  when 
he  is  worked  up  into  the  highest  possible  type. 
To  do  that  is  not  to  derogate  the  greatness  of  God. 
The  greatness  of  God  is  infinite,  therefore  eternally 


34  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

safe  from  all  derogation.  I  am  not  afraid  of  excit- 
ing the  jealousy  of  God.  God  is  not  jealous  of 
His  own.  The  artist  is  not  jealous  of  the  popular- 
ity of  his  picture.  The  author  is  not  jealous  of  the 
wide  sale  of  his  book.  The  musician  is  not  jealous 
of  his  song  when  it  thrills  to  an  encore.  The  father 
is  not  jealous  of  the  influence  of  his  son.  The 
teacher  is  not  jealous  of  the  development  of  his 
favorite  pupil.  The  developed  man  is  the  creation 
of  God,  made  by  the  indwelling  of  His  Spirit,  and 
by  the  molding  power  of  His  Son  Jesus  Christ, 
and  by  the  teaching  of  His  Word,  and  by  the 
operation  of  His  providences,  and  God  is  proud 
of  him. 

How  shall  man  reach  the  heights  which  God 
has  opened  before  him  ?  How  shall  man  make 
the  most  of  himself?  That  is  the  question.  To 
make  the  most  of  himself  man  must  deal  pointedly 
and  specifically  with  himself.  He  may  put  him- 
self under  the  best  of  teachers,  but  that  is  not 
enough.  He  may  choose  the  best  of  companions, 
but  that  is  not  enough.  He  may  live  in  a  moral 
community  and  become  a  member  of  the  Church, 
but  that  is  not  enough.  He  may  have  a  father 
planning  for  him,  and  a  mother  praying  for  him, 
and  a  minister  preaching  at  him,  but  that  is  not 
enough.  He  has  a  duty  which  he  owes  himself, 
and  until  he  is  true  to  himself  there  can  be  no  sal- 
vation, no  growth,  and  no  establishment  of  a  true 
and  abiding  character.      No  man  ever  reaches  the 


POWER  OF  SOLILOQUY  IN  HUMAN  LIFE.       35 

climax  of  greatness  until  he  becomes  acquainted 
with  himself,  talks  and  counsels  with  himself, 
respects  himself,  plans  for  himself,  develops  him- 
self, thinks  for  himself,  acts  for  himself,  goes  to 
school  to  himself,  sacrifices  for  himself,  and  crowns 
himself.  He  must  be  alone,  and  often  alone. 
He  must  talk  with  God,  he  must  also  talk  with  the 
great  and  good  of  the  people  of  God ;  but  beyond 
all  this  he  must  in  the  midst  of  the  silence  and 
solemnity  of  solitude  frequently  commune  with  his 
own  heart.  Soliloquy  must  have  a  wide  play  in 
his  life. 

Do  I  exaggerate  the  necessity  for  solitude  and 
soliloquy  in  life  in  order  to  trueness  and  growth 
and  greatness?  Let  human  biography  answer. 
All  great  men  have  insisted  upon  a  certain  amount 
of  isolation.  Inventors  have  cloistered  themselves 
with  nature  and  have  experimented  in  solitude. 
Solitary  and  alone  they  have  canvassed  the  inher- 
ent forces  in  the  elements  before  they  have  unrolled 
for  public  scrutiny  their  amazing  discoveries. 

It  is  well  known  how  writers  abstract  themselves 
from  society,  that  in  retirement  they  may  be  free 
from  interruption,  and  escape  the  jar  of  nerves 
which  comes  from  discordant  sounds.  Maturin, 
the  dramatist,  when  he  felt  he  was  getting  into  the 
full  tide  of  composition,  used  to  stick  a  wafer  on 
his  forehead  to  signify  to  the  members  of  his 
household  that  he  was  not  to  be  spoken  to.  Sir 
Walter  Scott's  study  at  Abbotsford  contained  one 


36  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

chair  and  no  more.  The  essays  of  Bacon,  the 
plays  of  Shakespeare,  the  poems  of  Browning  and 
Tennyson  and  Whittier  are  not  extemporized 
efforts.  Each  composition  which  carries  in  it  im- 
mortality and  feeling  and  experience  and  thought 
is  pondered  slowly,  and  when  the  writer  is  alone. 
Now,  that  which  is  necessary  to  good  writing  is 
necessary  to  good  living.  There  must  be  thought 
in  life,  and  conscience  in  life,  and  the  play  of  imag- 
ination in  life,  if  life  is  to  be  abiding  in  its  quality, 
and  influential.  These  things  are  reached  in  a 
large  degree  only  when  a  man  is  alone,  and  can 
think,  and  can  hear  the  voice  of  conscience,  and 
can  allow  the  imagination  undisturbed  to  paint  and 
beautify  duty  so  that  it  is  metamorphosed  into 
privilege.  Summon  the  great  men  of  history  into 
your  presence  to-day,  and  see  if  what  I  affirm  be 
not  true !  Moses  was  the  great  lawgiver  of  the  old 
economy ;  but  you  remember  the  solitude  of  Mount 
Sinai,  where  he  was  wrapped  round  with  the  She- 
kinah  cloud.  Daniel  was  great  in  Babylon,  he  tow- 
ered over  all  the  wisdom  of  that  great  empire ;  but 
Daniel  put  solitude  into  his  busy  life  three  times  a 
day.  It  was  amid  the  stillness  of  the  river  Hidekel 
or  on  the  banks  of  the  Tigris  that  he  reached  his 
wonderful  vision  of  the  Messianic  kingdom.  John 
the  Baptist  was  a  wilderness  man.  It  was  while 
on  the  lonely  Isle  of  Patmos  that  John  the  apostle 
so  lifted  his  being  to  spiritual  heights  that  God 
could  put  the  Apocalypse  into  his  soul.      In  the 


POWER  OF  SOLILOQUY  IN  HUMAN  LIFE.       37 

perfect  human  life  of  Jesus  Christ  we  see  the  true 
essentials  to  right  living.  There  were  both  soli- 
tude and  soliloquy  in  His  life.  You  are  familiar 
with  His  forty  days  in  the  wilderness,  and  with 
His  midnights  in  the  mountain,  and  with  the  scene 
in  the  Garden  of  Gethsemane,  with  its  one  lone 
figure  prone  on  the  ground.  Such  was  the  soli- 
tude in  the  life  of  Christ.  There  was  soliloquy  in 
His  life  also.  He  talked  to  His  own  soul  of  the 
chief  mission  of  His  life. 

The  words  of  soliloquy  to  which  I  refer  are  not 
many,  only  a  sentence ;  but  this  sentence  sets  ire 
miniature  before  the  soul  of  Jesus  the  whole  of 
His  life.  The  words  to  which  I  refer  were  these : 
"  I  have  a  baptism  to  be  baptized  with,  and  how 
am  I  straitened  until  it  be  accomplished."  These 
words  seem  to  be  thrown  into  the  discourse  of 
Jesus,  not  so  much  for  others,  as  for  His  own  soul. 
He  only  understood  them.  If  solitude  and  solilo- 
quy were  a  necessity  in  the  human  life  of  Jesus, 
what  human  nature  can  do  without  them?  Let 
me  point  out  the  essentiality  of  solitude. 

The  silence  of  solitude  is  essential  in  our  life  in 
order  that  we  may  hear  distinctly  the  voice  and 
words  of  God. 

No  life  is  great  where  the  soul  does  not  hear 
God  and  admit  God  into  its  plans.  God  in  the 
life,  and  the  life  in  the  hand  of  God,  that  is  what 
we  need.  It  is  the  voice  of  God  that  awakens 
conscience   in   man,   and   man  requires  an  awak- 


38  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

ened  conscience  when  he  communes  with  himself. 
Without  conscience  he  cannot  search  his  motives. 
Now,  motives  are  the  springs  of  life.  The  noises 
of  the  world  drown  the  voice  of  God.  We  must 
withdraw  from  the  noises  of  the  world.  While  on 
Broadway,  New  York,  I  have  heard  many  times 
the  chimes  in  the  Trinity  Church  steeple  pour  out 
their  music  at  noonday.  But  I  have  noticed  that 
very  few  of  the  busy  crowds  on  the  street  followed 
the  music.  There  are  too  many  sounds  disputing 
with  the  chimes  the  possession  of  the  ear.  I  tried 
to  follow  the  sacred  song  that  was  pealing  through 
the  air,  but  note  after  note  was  lost  in  the  roar 
of  the  city,  and  in  the  noise  and  the  rattle  of  the 
wheels  of  commerce.  The  song  was  broken  up 
into  unmeaning  parts.  There  are  hours,  however, 
when  the  chimes  in  Trinity  Church  steeple  are 
heard  in  all  their  power  and  emphasis  without  a 
break.  These  are  the  midnight  hours  of  solitude. 
There  is  no  difficulty  in  hearing  and  enjoying  the 
anthems  on  Christmas  night,  or  on  the  night  when 
the  bells  ring  out  the  old  year  and  ring  in  the  new. 
While  busy  and  active  on  the  Broadway  of  the 
world,  God's  words  fall  on  our  ears ;  but  because 
of  the  din  of  business  and  pleasure  they  are  heard 
only  in  a  broken,  fragmentary  way ;  but  in  the 
secret  closet,  when  business  and  pleasure  for  the 
time  are  banished,  they  fall  in  such  a  way  that  not 
a  single  syllable  is  lost. 


POWER  OF  SOLILOQUY  IN  HUMAN  LIFE.       39 

One  of  the  chief  points  which  we  should  keep 
before  us  is  this  : 

It  is  by  soliloquy  or  soul-communion  that  we 
become  acquainted  with  our  nature,  and  learn  its 
endowments,  and  the  relation  of  the  inner  life  to  the 
outer  life. 

There  is  a  world  within,  and  this  is  the  greater 
world.  This  is  the  world  that  controls  the  outer 
world.  If  you  want  a  really  lovely  world  without, 
you  must  make  the  world  within  bright  and  lovely. 
Do  not  complain  of  what  is  outside,  the  fault  is 
within.  All  the  bitter  waters  thou  tastest  well  up 
from  depths  within.  All  the  gloom  that  surrounds 
thee  is  but  the  impure  exhalation  from  thine  own 
heart.  The  discord  that  grates  on  thine  ear  is  but 
the  din  of  thine  own  disordered  soul.  Fill  thy 
heart  with  goodness,  and  thou  shalt  see  goodness 
everywhere.  Let  truth  and  love  glow  within  thee, 
and  thy  outward  heaven  shall  bend  over  thee  with- 
out a  cloud.  "  Out  of  the  heart  are  the  issues  of 
life."  Get  the  heart  right,  then  all  will  be  right, 
and  life  will  be  simplified.  Then  there  will  be 
no  need  of  check,  no  need  of  coercion,  no  need  of 
cumbersome  externals.  If  the  heart  be  a  thistle- 
plant,  all  your  circumstances  and  all  your  external 
arrangements  cannot  make  it  bear  a  single  fig. 
But  if  it  be  a  fig-tree — fig  in  core  and  fig  in  sap — 
without  coercion  it  will  bear  figs  of  itself. 

My   fellow- men,    we   need    to   get    clearer   and 


4<D  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

broader  conceptions  of  the  world  within,  but  we 
cannot  do  that  unless  we  keep  constantly  going 
into  the  world  within.  Our  soul  is  ourself,  and  to 
know  self  we  must  know  our  soul,  but  to  know  the 
soul  we  must  constantly  deal  with  it.  Seek  until 
you  find  yourself.  Go  inward  and  inward  until 
you  come  to  the  awful  shrine  where  dwells  the  liv- 
ing soul.  What  is  the  soul  ?  It  is  the  only  thing 
on  earth  that  has  been  created  in  the  image  of 
God.  Each  soul  has  in  it  wonderful  endowments. 
When  the  great  God  smote  His  hands  together 
and  struck  out  your  spirit  like  a  spark  into  the 
gloom,  and  when  that  seed  of  fire  dropped  down 
through  the  blind  abyss  and  wrapped  itself  up  in 
your  clay  body,  it  carried  in  it  the  image  of  God. 
The  physical  man  is  not  the  whole  of  us.  A 
stranger  to  this  world  might  imagine  that  it  was 
from  the  way  we  dress  it  and  house  it  and  feed  it. 
It  is  a  wonderful  creation ;  it  contains  in  it  all  the 
principles  of  mechanics,  and  is  capable  through  a 
glorious  transfiguration  of  becoming  a  fac-simile  of 
Christ's  resurrection  body.  There  are  in  it  many 
studies :  studies  of  the  muscles,  and  of  the  nerves, 
and  of  the  bones,  and  of  the  veins,  and  of  the 
arteries;  but  still  it  is  not  the  whole  of  us,  nor  the 
better  part  of  us.  What  it  includes  is  the  better 
part  of  us. 

Man  in  his  construction  reminds  me  of  what  the 
lapidary  calls  a  crystal  inclusion — that  is,  a  gem 
within  a  gem.     The  physical  man  is  a  gem,  but  it 


POWER  OF  SOLILOQUY  IN  HUMAN  LIFE.      41 

carries  in  itself  a  better  gem.  Here,  for  example, 
is  a  beautiful  sapphire  from  far-away  Ceylon.  The 
sapphire  is  valuable  in  itself ;  it  is  opaque  and  of  a 
milky-white  color;  but  it  is  more  valuable  for  what 
it  contains.  The  inside  is  so  full  of  tiny  six-sided 
crystals  that  when  the  light  strikes  on  its  surface 
you  see  a  beautiful  star  of  six  rays  flashing  like  a 
snow  crystal.  The  physical  man  is  the  sapphire ; 
but  the  soul  within  is  the  six-rayed  star. 

It  is  the  soul  within  with  which  we  have  to  deal. 
The  divine  precept  is,  "  Commune  with  the  soul." 
"  Understand  the  life  that  is  going  on  in  it."  And 
be  assured  there  is  a  wonderful  life  going  on  in  the 
soul. 

We  read  in  fairy  lore  of  how  chasms  have  been 
bridged  over  in  a  single  night  by  benevolent  spirits, 
by  dwarfs,  by  ouphes,  and  kindred  imaginary 
creatures.  "  They  hustle  vast  rocks  together  and 
pile  them  one  upon  another,  and  build  piers  and 
span  them  with  arches,  so  that  the  favorite  knights 
can  pass  over  them  to  the  castle  and  carry  off  their 
imprisoned  lovers.  Sometimes  while  the  hero 
sleeps  these  fairy  powers  construct  whole  cities. 
With  tens  of  millions  of  hands  they  carry  up  walls 
and  surmount  them  with  golden  domes,  and  in  the 
morning  whole  cities  stand  where  the  night  before 
there  was  only  a  wilderness."  How  pleasing  for 
their  unheard-of  wonders  are  fairy  stories!  And 
yet  there  is  something  more  wonderful  actually 
going  on  within  every  man.     There  are  buildings 


4^ 


OUR  BEST  MOODS. 


going  up  for  eternity.  There  is  not  a  thought  that 
is  not  striking  a  blow  ;  there  is  not  an  impulse  that 
is  not  doing  mason  work ;  there  is  not  a  passion 
darting  this  way  or  that  that  is  not  a  workman's 
thrust.  There  are  as  many  master-workmen  in 
you  as  there  are  separate  faculties,  and  there  are 
as  many  blows  being  struck  as  there  are  separate 
thoughts  and  separate  emotions  and  separate  voli- 
tions. Thus  the  work  is  going  on  perpetually. 
Every  day  the  myriad  forces  are  building,  build- 
ing, building,  and  the  great  structure  of  character 
is  going  up  point  by  point,  and  story  by  story,  to 
remain  forever. 

It  is  our  duty  to  go  into  our  souls  and  superin- 
tend this  building.  It  is  our  duty  to  make  this 
superintendence  exceedingly  minute,  and  even 
microscopic.  It  is  our  duty  to  feel  that  every 
thought  and  every  volition  is  a  power,  and  should 
not  be  left  to  work  hap-hazard.  Nothing  within 
should  be  slighted  or  overlooked  because  it  is  called 
little  or  small.  To  the  thoughtful  man  there  can 
be  nothing  little,  and  least  of  all  in  the  moral  sphere 
within.  It  was  a  favorite  idea  with  Leibnitz  that 
every  particle  of  matter  reflected  in  a  manner,  and 
carried  latent  in  itself,  the  history  of  the  entire 
universe.  That  is  to  say,  if  we  knew  whatever 
could  be  known  about  any  single  particle,  we 
should  be  omniscient.  All  the  forces  in  nature 
have  been  at  work  to  make  that  little  atom  exactly 
what  it  is.      Everything  influences,  and  is  in  turn 


POWER  OF  SOLILOQUY  IN  HUMAN  LIFE.      43 

influenced  by,  the  infinite  whole.  From  this  point 
of  view  how  unspeakably  solemn  appears  our 
human  life !  Almost  every  moment  brings  with  it 
at  once  an  opportunity  to  do  right  and  a  tempta- 
tion to  do  wrong.  Everything  we  do  or  say  leaves 
us  somewhat  different  from  our  former  selves,  and 
makes  us  so  much  more  of  a  power  for  good  or  for 
evil. 

We  have  seen  that  by  solitude  and  soliloquy  we 
can  better  hear  God's  message  to  man,  and  can 
better  become  acquainted  with  our  own  souls  and 
the  work  which  is  carried  on  within  them.  There 
is  another  use  of  solitude  and  soliloquy. 

By  them  we  are  better  able  to  form  our  plans  and 
ideals  for  life. 

All  great  and  successful  workers  work  after 
ideals.  Even  God  Himself  works  in  this  way,  and 
His  works  are  no  greater  than  His  plans.  Take 
the  crowning  work  of  God,  viz.,  the  creation  of 
man ;  that  was  done  according  to  an  ideal.  The 
words  of  God,  "  Let  us  make  man  in  our  own 
image,"  is  God's  soliloquy,  and  it  permits  us  to 
overhear  God  drafting  His  design  of  the  man  who 
is  to  be.  Nature  works  after  a  pattern.  There  is 
a  plan  wrapped  up  in  every  seed.  There  is  not 
a  planless  kernel  of  corn  nor  a  planless  grain  of 
wheat  in  all  the  universe.  The  tree  ripens  to  the 
grade  of  a  purpose  that  was  perfect  before  the  tree 
grew. 

The  painter  works  after  a  pattern.     What   he 


44  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

puts  on  the  canvas  has  first  been  a  live  fact  in  his 
own  thought.  Beauty  is  prior  to  the  brush.  The 
musician  is  like  the  painter  in  his  work ;  he  too  is 
swayed  by  an  ideal.  The  sheet  of  printed  notes 
which  he  gives  the  world  is  simply  a  transcript  of 
prior  music  which  has  been  singing  in  his  soul. 
If  not,  it  is  worth  nothing.  Raphael  pictures  St. 
Cecilia  as  entranced  by  the  music  that  is  inaudible. 
Every  musician  must  first  be  a  St.  Cecilia. 

The  architect  joins  the  company  of  the  painter 
and  the  musician.  The  building  is  constructed  in 
his  own  mind  before  a  single  timber  is  cut  or  a 
single  sod  of  the  foundation  is  turned. 

Christian,  you  must  join  this  company  if  you 
would  excel.  You  must  have  definite  conceptions 
of  the  graces  out  of  which  you  intend  to  build  your 
character.  You  must  know  what  truth  is,  what 
genuine  self-sacrifice  is,  what  manliness  is,  what 
womanliness  is.  You  must  know  what  love  is,  and 
what  it  will  do ;  what  sterling  honesty  is ;  what 
faith  is,  and  what  are  its  ventures  and  conquests. 
All  these  things  must  be  definite  things  to  you, 
and  toward  these  definite  things  you  must  con- 
stantly work.  Toward  all  these  things  you  must 
plan ;  you  must  talk  about  them  to  self ;  you  must 
soliloquize,  for  according  as  a  man  soliloquizes  so 
is  he. 

/  wish  to  exalt  the  value  of  soliloquy.  I  wish 
to  secure  for  it  a  greater  use  in  life. 

There  is  no  more  powerful  way  of  presenting 


POWER  OF  SOLILOQUY  IN  HUMAN  LIFE.      45 

thought  than  the  form  of  soliloquy.  One  of  the 
most  powerful  sermons  I  ever  heard  was  preached 
by  George  MacDonald.  It  was  upon  the  text, 
"  Who  by  searching  can  find  out  the  Almighty 
unto  perfection?  "  and  it  was  a  soliloquy  from  be- 
ginning to  end.  The  man  in  a  holy  rapture  talked 
to  his  soul  of  what  is  knowable  of  God,  and  of  the 
grandeur  of  God's  unscalable  majesty.  In  thrilling 
his  own  soul  with  a  vision  of  God  he  thrilled  every 
soul  in  the  vast  audience.  Are  not  some  of  the 
grandest  productions  in  literature  soliloquies? 
That  oft-quoted  address  to  the  soul  by  Oliver 
Wendell  Holmes,  a  very  gem  in  literature,  is  a  so- 
liloquy. 

"  Build  thee  more  stately  mansions,  O  my  soul, 

As  the  swift  seasons  roll! 

Leave  thy  vaulted  past! 
Let  each  new  temple,  nobler  than  the  last, 
Shut  thee  from  heaven  with  a  dome  more  vast, 

Till  thou  at  length  art  free, 
Leaving  thine  outgrown  shell  by  life's  unresting  sea." 

As  I  have  spoken  of  the  words  of  Holmes,  I 
might  speak  of  the  words  of  Cato  on  immortality. 
They  are  known  in  literature  as  Cato 's  Soliloquy, 
and  are  thus  regiven  by  the  pen  of  Addison : 

"  It  must  be  so,  Plato, — thou  reasonest  well, — 
Else  whence  this  pleasing  hope,  this  fond  desire, 
This  longing  after  immortality? 
Or  whence  this  secret  dread  or  inward  horror 
Of  falling  into  naught?     Why  shrinks  the  soul 


46  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

Back  on  herself,  and  startles  at  destruction? 
'Tis  divinity  that  stirs  within  us  : 
'Tis  heaven  itself  that  points  out  a  hereafter, 
And  intimates  eternity  to  man." 

Time  will  not  permit  me  to  quote  "The  Dying 
Christian  to  His  Sou/,"  by  Alexander  Pope,  nor 
"Jerusalem  the  Golden ,"  by  Bernard,  a  man  who 
has  left  scores  of  addresses  to  his  soul,  which  are 
all  on  fire  with  holy  fervor.  When  a  thinker  wants 
to  give  practical  and  personal  power  to  his  thought, 
he  casts  it  into  the  form  of  a  soliloquy  at  white-heat. 

If  soliloquy  be  a  power  among  powers,  we  may 
expect  to  find  it  in  the  Book  of  books.  We  do. 
It  has  a  large  place  and  play  in  the  biography 
of  Bible  characters.  Nebuchadnezzar's  soliloquy 
climaxed  his  pride  and  put  him  under  the  rod. 
"  Is  not  this  great  Babylon  which  I  have  built  by 
the  power  of  my  might?"  The  soliloquy  of  the 
rich  farmer  in  the  parable  of  Jesus  put  the  climax 
upon  his  folly.  The  man  had  more  than  he  could 
use.  There  were  hundreds  starving  about  him, 
but  he  determined  to  hoard.  Finding  his  barns 
too  small,  he  reasoned  within  himself,  saying, 
"  What  shall  I  do,  because  I  have  no  room  where 
to  bestow  my  fruits?"  And  he  said,  "This  will  I 
do :  I  will  pull  down  my  barns,  and  build  greater ; 
and  there  will  I  bestow  all  my  fruits  and  my  goods. 
And  I  will  say  to  my  soul,  Soul,  thou  hast  much 
goods  laid  up  for  many  years ;  take  thine  ease, 
eat,  drink,  and  be  merry."     These  soliloquies  had 


POWER  OF  SOLILOQUY  IN  HUM  AX  LIFE.       47 

an  influence  upon  the  men.  As  the  men  solilo- 
quized so  were  they.  There  are  brighter  instances 
in  the  Holy  Book.  There  is  the  instance  of  the 
prodigal  son.  It  was  his  soliloquy  that  arrested 
his  course  in  sin  and  that  brought  him  back  to  his 
father.  He  said  to  himself,  "  How  many  hired 
servants  are  there  in  my  father's  house  who  have 
bread  enough  and  to  spare,  and  yet  I  am  in  dire 
want.  I  will  arise  and  go  to  my  father."  And 
he  arose  and  went. 

There  is  the  instance  of  David.  By  a  talk  with 
his  soul,  and  by  testing  it  with  questions,  he  rea- 
soned himself  from  the  depths  of  despondency  into 
the  joys  of  confidence.  "  I  commune  with  mine 
own  heart :  and  my  spirit  made  diligent  search. 
Will  the  Lord  cast  off  forever?  and  will  He  be 
favorable  no  more?  Is  His  mercy  clean  gone  for- 
ever? doth  His  promise  fail  forevermore?  Hath 
God  forgotten  to  be  gracious?  .  .  .  And  I  said, 
This  is  my  infirmity  :  but  I  will  remember  the  years 
of  the  right  hand  of  the  Most  High." 

There  is  the  instance  of  Queen  Esther.  By  a 
soliloquy  she  nerved  herself  in  a  supreme  moment 
for  a  supreme  duty,  and  saved  all  Israel  from  the 
sword  of  Haman.  The  grandest  picture  in  the 
story  of  her  life  is  where  she  stands  face  to  face 
with  duty,  and  alone — alone  in  the  place  of  peril ; 
alone  in  the  place  of  resolution  ;  alone  in  the  place 
of  heroic  action.  She  said  to  herself,  "  I  will  go ; 
and  if  I  perish,  I  perish."     When  she  entered  the 


48  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

throne-room  of  Ahasuerus  during  that  hour  of 
awful  venture,  she  entered  with  a  beauty  that  had 
never  before  shone  in  her  person.  Her  whole  per- 
sonality was  transfigured.  She  was  beautiful  with 
a  threefold  beauty :  there  was  the  beauty  of  her 
physical  face  and  form ;  there  was  the  beauty  of 
a  magnificent  womanhood — every  moral  grace  at 
work ;  and  beyond  all  this  there  was  the  beauty 
of  the  Lord,  which  was  in  and  upon  her.  This 
last  beauty  gave  her  face  a  splendor  like  that  of 
the  heroic  Stephen.  That  day  of  soliloquy,  when 
Queen  Esther  said  to  her  soul,  "  I  will  go  in  unto 
the  king;  and  if  I  perish,  I  perish,"  was  the  day 
when  this  woman  of  God  put  on  her  true  royalty 
and  ascended  one  of  the  thrones  of  history  to  rule 
and  inspire  human  nature,  in  the  realm  of  the 
heroic,  for  all  time. 

As  I  draw  this  sermon  to  a  close,  I  imagine  I 
hear  you  say,  "  Give  the  rermon  a  practical  turn! 
You  urge  soliloquy  upon  us — give  us  some  forms 
in  which  we  can  soliloquize.  Put  words  into  our 
mouths  that  we  may  talk  to  our  souls.  What  shall 
we  say  to  our  souls?  When  Christ  taught  His 
disciples  to  pray  He  gave  them  a  form.  Give  us  a 
form."  Would  you  have  forms,  then  ask  your 
soul,  "Soul,  art  thou  satisfied  to  remain  what  thou 
art,  an  eternal  stereotype?  Art  thou  worked  up 
to  thy  highest  possibilities?  Seest  thou  nothing 
beyond?"  Ask  your  soul  the  question:  "Soul, 
understandest  thou  what  true  manhood  is?     What 


POWER  OF  SOLILOQUY  IN  HUMAN  LIFE.      49 

is  it  in  man  that  is  man?  What  differentiates  him 
from  the  animal  creation  around  him  ?  It  is  thy 
faculties  which  differentiate  man  from  the  animal, 
O  soul.  It  is  broad  intellect,  moral  sense,  the 
spiritual  nature,  the  endowment  of  sentiments 
which  inspire  the  idea  of  purity  and  of  self-denial 
and  of  holy  love.  Soul,  art  thou  observing  the 
law  of  love,  and  living  above  the  things  of  self? 
Art  thou  a  man  aspiring  after  high  things?  "  Ask 
thy  soul :  "  Soul,  art  thou  willing  to  pay  the  price 
of  being  something  more  than  moderate?  Art 
thou  willing  to  take  advancement  out  of  nerve  and 
bone  and  brain  and  heart?  To  go  the  way  of 
success  means  self-continence,  and  self-reliance, 
and  self-sacrifice,  and  schooling,  and  training,  and 
the  abandonment  of  pleasure,  and  often  a  solitary 
journey.  It  means  the  girding  of  the  mind,  and 
the  keeping  of  it  at  a  high  tension,  and  upon  the 
utmost  stretch.  Art  thou  ready  to  pay  this  price 
for  a  character  entire  and  round  and  complete? 
If  not,  the  potential  within  thee  will  only  reach  a 
sight  of  the  Promised  Land  and  a  grave  in  the  wil- 
derness. Pay  the  price  and  win  Canaan !  Dare 
to  do  your  duty  at  any  cost,  and  believe  me,  even 
here,  in  the  very  midst  of  the  darkness  and  the 
gloom,  deep  down  in  the  depths  of  thy  being, 
there  will  be  peace,  perfect  peace,  the  peace  of 
God  which  passeth  all  understanding." 

Art  thou  a  business  man  steeped  to  the  ears  in 
trade?     Ask  thy  soul:  "Soul,  what  will  it  profit 


5<D  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

a  man  even  though  he  gain  the  whole  world  and 
lose  his  own  soul ;  or  what  will  a  man  give  in  ex- 
change for  his  soul  ?  Has  that  man  made  a  good 
bargain  who  has  bartered  his  principles  for  wealth  ? 
The  world  is  only  an  ephemeral  atom.  At  best  it 
is  only  a  golden  drop  in  the  immensities  of  God, 
and  serves  only  as  a  comparison  to  illustrate  the 
spiritual  treasures  which  open  before  the  soul." 

Art  thou  mourning  under  the  losses  which  have 
overtaken  thy  lot?  Ask  thy  soul:  "Soul,  what 
difference  will  these  losses  make  to  thee  one  hun- 
dred years  hence?  " 

Art  thou  a  man  out  of  Christ?  Speak  to  your 
soul  thus :  "  O  soul,  plead  not,  I  entreat  thee,  for 
longer  delay.  Dost  thou  mean  always  to  lead  me 
on  in  the  dark?  Wilt  thou  fatally  persuade  me 
that  there  is  time  enough  yet,  while  all  the  wise 
and  all  the  good  and  all  the  holy,  and  God  Him- 
self, are  crying,  'Behold,  now  is  the  accepted  time; 
behold,  noiv  is  the  day  of  salvation  '?  O  my  soul, 
have  mercy  upon  thyself ;  yield  thee  to  Him  who 
made  thee,  who  loves  thee,  and  who  waits  to  re- 
deem thee,  and  who,  father-like,  is  keeping  a  place 
for  thee  in  the  home  above." 

Art  thou  a  man  seeking  a  correct  knowledge  of 
thyself?  Ask  thy  soul:  "Soul,  how  much  of  a 
man  am  I  ?  What  am  I  for  benevolence  ?  What 
am  I  for  faith?  What  am  I  for  prayer?  What 
am  I  for  reverence?  What  am  I  for  work?  What 
am  I  for  that   which   goes   to   make   up   genuine 


POWER  OF  SOLILOQUY  IN  HUMAN  LIFE.       5  I 

character?  Take  away  from  me  all  that  shall  be 
taken  away  at  the  hour  of  death,  and  tell  me  just 
what  I  am.  Moses,  amid  the  solitude  of  Nebo, 
quitting  his  life-work  and  standing  before  God 
with  nothing  but  his  own  personality,  was  grand. 
So  was  Elijah  as  he  swept  up  the  steeps  of  light 
in  the  chariot  of  fire.  So  was  Paul  as  he  stretched 
forth  the  hand  of  faith  and  laid  hold  of  his  crown. 
Is  my  personality,  considered  in  itself,  like  the 
personalities  of  these  men  of  God  ?  I  charge  thee, 
O  soul,  to  make  it  such.  For  this  dost  thou  exist, 
and  for  this  end  hast  thou  been  endowed.  I  want 
to  be  Godlike.  I  want  to  live  in  such  a  way  that 
there  shall  be  voices  going  before  me  into  the 
eternal  world.  I  do  not  wish  to  enter  heaven  a 
mere  nobody.  When  I  pass  within  the  gates  I  do 
not  fancy  hearing  a  saint  here  and  there  asking, 
'  Who  is  he  ?  Whence  eame  he  ?  '  I  want  to  live 
in  such  a  way  that  when  I  ascend  the  angels  of 
God  will  be  proud  to  accompany  me  all  the  way, 
and  the  heavenly  hosts  will  be  rejoiced  to  greet 
me  with  a  shout.  Soul,  it  is  thine  to  make  such 
a  future  for  me." 

My  fellow-men,  I  close  with  the  thought  with 
which  I  began,  viz.,  man  is  next  to  God.  Grand 
possibilities  are  within  our  horizon.  It  is  our  duty 
to  urge  our  souls  to  attain  these. 

There  are  special  seasons  of  soul-communion, 
when  all  the  faculties  of  our  being  are  enlarged, 
and   when    they   are    bathed    in    heavenly   light ; 


52  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

when  our  faith  carries  in  it  a  vision ;  when  our 
love  is  kindled  into  a  bright  consuming  flame; 
when  our  personality  is  baptized  with  the  Holy 
Ghost  and  is  penetrated  through  and  through  with 
a  mysterious  force.  These  are  the  seasons  for 
which  we  are  to  watch ;  these  are  the  seasons 
toward  which  we  are  to  work ;  these  are  the  sea- 
sons in  which  we  are  to  see  to  it  that  the  soul 
forms  its  plans  and  maps  out  its  career.  If  we 
take  care  of  our  soul  during  these  seasons,  our  life 
will  be  grand  enough  to  satisfy  cveti  God. 


III. 

THE  FACE  OF   JESUS    CHRIST. 


III. 

THE    FACE    OF   JESUS   CHRIST. 

" The  face  of  Jesus  Christ." — 2  Cor.  4:  6. 

ONLY  very  recently  I  noticed  that  this  phrase 
was  in  the  Word  of  God.  I  do  not  mean  that  I 
never  saw  it  there  before ;  I  must  have  seen  it,  for 
the  verse  in  which  it  occurs  has  been  a  familiar 
text  from  boyhood.  In  my  former  reading  the 
phrase  did  not  strike  the  mind.  It  was  only  in 
this  late  reading  that  its  letters  seemed  to  blaze 
like  letters  of  fire,  and  to  leap  from  the  printed 
page  into  the  soul.  Since  then  the  phrase  has 
taken  hold  of  my  thoughts,  and  I  have  found 
myself  repeating  it  mentally,  and  interrogatively, 
"The  face  of  Jesus  Christ!"  "The  face  of  Jesus 
Christ!" 

The  question  which  presses  for  an  answer  is  this  : 
How  much  is  contained  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ  ? 
Our  reply  is,  Everything.  In  the  face  of  Jesus 
Christ  shines  the  glory  of  God,  for  Christ  is  the 
Son  of  God.  In  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ  is  all 
that  pertains  to  ideal  humanity,  for  Christ  is  true 

55 


56  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

man.  In  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ  is  the  history  of 
redemption,  for  everything  pertaining  to  redemp- 
tion is  written  there.  To  one  who  under  the  tui- 
tion of  the  Spirit  has  become  an  expert  in  reading 
the  countenance,  the  different  impressions  of  the 
face  of  Jesus  Christ,  engraved  upon  the  pages  of 
God's  Book,  form  a  pictorial  history  of  redemption. 
The  Bible  is  a  photographic  album.  It  is  full  of 
faces  taken  from  God's  camera.  Chief  among 
these  faces  is  the  face  of  Jesus.  God's  camera 
has  been  brought  to  bear  upon  His  face  frequently, 
and  there  are  pictures  here  which  give  permanence 
to  all  of  the  varied  scenes  of  His  life.  Let  me 
venture  an  illustration.  In  this  day  of  photograph 
and  picture  making  there  would  be  no  difficulty  in 
making  a  pictorial  history  of  any  of  our  heroes. 
You  could  easily  tell  the  story  of  Ulysses  S.  Grant 
by  means  of  a  photographic  album.  In  the  open- 
ing page  of  the  album  you  would  insert  the  pict- 
ure of  the  young  cadet  at  West  Point.  In  the 
spaces  following  you  would  insert  the  picture  of 
the  youth  receiving  his  first  commission ;  then  the 
general  leading  the  armies  of  the  nation  in  the 
successive  battles ;  then  the  victor  receiving  the 
surrender  of  Lee ;  then  the  President  in  the  White 
House ;  then  the  world-wide  traveler,  the  honored 
guest  in  kings'  palaces ;  then  the  invalid  in  the 
sick-room ;  and  then  the  coffined  form  lying  in 
state.  Each  picture  would  represent  a  period  in 
the  man's  life,  and  all  combined  would   give  his 


THE  FACE   OF  JESUS   CHRIST.  57 

full  biography.  In  like  manner  God  the  Father 
has  made  a  photographic  album  composed  of  the 
face  of  Jesus  Christ.  This  album  is  the  Bible. 
As  we  turn  the  divine  Book  the  face  of  Jesus 
Christ  looks  up  at  us  from  its  pages,  and  these 
different  pictures  of  the  one  face  taken  together 
give  us  the  biography  of  the  most  wonderful  per- 
sonage. 

Before  turning  the  pages  of  this  divine  album 
that  we  may  look  into  some  of  the  Christie  faces 
which  are  there,  let  us  seek  clear  ideas  as  to  how 
the  face  of  Jesus  Christ  is  set  before  us  in  the 
Word.  His  face  is  not  pictured  as  we  would  pict- 
ure the  face  of  our  friend.  We  would  picture  the 
peculiar  and  distinctive  personal  features  of  our 
friend,  so  as  to  give  the  shape  of  his  physical  form, 
the  color  of  his  hair,  the  complexion  of  his  counte- 
nance, the  color  of  his  eyes.  Our  picture  would 
be  wholly  physical.  Not  such  is  the  picture  of 
Christ  on  the  page  of  the  Bible.  It  is  a  human 
face,  but  it  is  not  the  face  of  any  particular  man. 
It  is  a  race  face,  not  an  individual  face.  It  deals 
not  so  much  with  features  and  attitudes  as  with 
inner  disposition  and  soul.  It  uses  features  and 
attitudes  to  set  before  us  the  pulsing  feelings  and 
emotions  which  sway  the  man,  and  the  virtues, 
graces,  and  purposes  which  make  the  man.  The 
Bible  presents  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ,  just  as  it 
presents  the  face  of  Stephen.  From  the  Bible 
picture  of  Stephen  we  cannot  tell  the  physical  style 


58  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

of  his  face,  or  the  cast  of  his  countenance  ;  whether 
it  was  large  or  little,  long  or  oval,  soft  or  rugged , 
whether  he  carried  dew  or  lightning  in  his  eye ; 
still  we  have  a  clear,  clean-cut  view  of  Stephen — 
that  is,  we  know  the  very  things  we  want  to  know 
of  him ;  we  see  him  at  his  best,  and  we  look  upon 
that  which  is  immortal  in  the  man.  The  spiritual 
Stephen  stands  before  us  with  his  great,  forgiving, 
and  Christ-like  love,  and  with  his  magnificent  at- 
tributes of  calmness,  loyalty,  and  fearless  courage. 
The  Bible  sets  before  us  the  face  of  Christ,  just  as 
it  sets  before  us  the  angel-face  of  Stephen. 

It  is  a  remarkable  thing  in  the  history  of  Christ 
that  nowhere  have  we  any  clue  to  His  physical 
identity.  The  world  owns  no  material  portraiture 
of  His  physical  person.  All  the  pictures  of  Christ 
by  the  great  artists  are  mere  fictions.  They  look 
no  more  like  Christ  than  they  look  like  Simon 
Peter  or  Nebuchadnezzar.  More  than  this,  not 
only  has  the  world  no  material  portraiture  of  the 
physical  Christ,  it  has  no  authentic  description  of 
His  material  person  by  which  He  could  be  distin- 
guished from  Zaccheus  the  little  man,  or  Barthol- 
omew, who  has  nothing  more  than  a  name  upon 
the  sacred  page.  Coins  and  statues,  in  our  New 
York  Metropolitan  Museum,  reveal  the  features  of 
the  Roman  contemporaries  of  Jesus ;  history  gives 
a  more  or  less  accurate  pen-picture  of  the  physical 
face  and  form  of  the  great  men  of  Greece,  Socrates 
and  Demosthenes  and  Pericles ;    but  of  Him,  the 


THE  FACE    OF  JESUS   CHRIST.  59 

one  historic  personage  of  whose  form  and  face  the 
whole  world  most  desires  some  knowledge,  there 
is  not  a  trace  in  the  Bible.  You  cannot  tell 
whether  He  was  of  moderate  height  or  tall ; 
whether  His  eyes  were  hazel  or  piercing  black. 
You  cannot  tell  one  personal  peculiarity  of  His 
which  gave  Him  His  individual  look.  The  con- 
ventional heads  of  Christ  are  the  manufacture  of 
the  merest  fancy.  The  would-be  descriptive  letter 
of  Publius  Lentulus  is  a  fabrication  of  the  fourth 
century,  and  the  story  that  the  face  of  Christ  im- 
printed itself  upon  the  handkerchief  of  the  holy 
Veronica  is  a  pure  myth  of  papal  Rome.  Why 
this  absence  of  Christ  in  marble,  or  Christ  on  the 
canvas,  or  Christ  on  the  face  of  ancient  coins? 
Why  this  paralysis  of  pen,  this  silence  of  inspired 
biographers?  I  believe  it  is  from  God.  God  sets 
Christ  forth  as  a  man,  and  not  as  any  particular 
man,  that  He  may  not  be  localized,  or  nationalized, 
but  that  He  may  be  what  He  is,  the  Son  of  man, 
the  Son  of  the  race,  and  that  He  may  belong  to 
the  wide  world.  As  His  face  is  pictured  on  the 
Bible  page,  a  man  of  any  nation  can  come  to  Him 
and  feel  kinship.  If  He  were  particularized  and 
localized — if,  for  example,  He  were  made  a  man 
with  a  pale  face,  then  the  man  of  the  ebony  face 
would  feel  that  there  was  a  greater  distance  be- 
tween Christ  and  him  than  between  Christ  and  his 
white  brother.  As  it  is,  there  is  neither  white  nor 
black  in  Jesus.      He  is  a  man.     That  is  all.     And 


60  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

wherever  you  find  a  man,  black  or  white,  Christ  is 
his  brother.  This  is  what  the  Caucasian  feels  when 
he  looks  at  the  face  of  Christ  in  the  Bible  album ; 
this  is  what  the  Mongolian  feels ;  this  is  what  the 
African  feels.  In  the  church  to  which  I  minister, 
Caucasian  and  Mongolian  and  African  sit  together 
at  the  Lord's  table,  and  we  all  think  alike  of  Jesus, 
and  we  all  feel  that  He  is  alike  our  brother. 

We  are  satisfied  with  this  way  of  presenting 
the  face  of  Jesus  Christ.  While  we  do  not  have 
His  features  as  we  have  the  features  of  Caesar  or 
Napoleon  or  Washington,  we  have  His  mind,  His 
purposes,  His  moral  qualities,  His  spiritual  nature. 
Enough  is  told  us  of  His  face  to  bring  these  out, 
and  these  fully  satisfy  us.  After  all,  is  it  not  the 
aim  of  true  art  in  painting  the  human  face  to  set 
forth  these  qualities?  Are  not  these  called  the 
essence  of  the  man?  A  true  artist  is  not  satisfied 
with  painting  the  surface  correctly,  with  merely 
giving  features  in  their  most  exact  proportions ; 
he  is  not  satisfied  with  putting  mere  physical 
beauty  upon  the  canvas.  A  face  beautiful  merely 
as  to  the  physical,  a  face  with  lips  modeled  from 
Cupid's  bow,  with  chin  of  Grecian  type,  with  ears 
like  pearly  shells,  with  cheeks  white  and  ruddy, 
with  hair  black  and  glossy,  and  rippling  in  waves, 
and  with  eyes  large  and  dark — a  face  such  as  this 
will  not  satisfy  a  true  artist.  To  him  it  is  like  a 
false  gem.  It  is  worthless.  Nay,  more,  it  is  worse 
than  worthless,  because  it  mocks  him  with  its  flash- 


THE  FACE    OF  JESUS   CHRIST.  6 1 

ing,  and  its  false  resemblances.  To  him  it  is  like 
a  musical  rhyme  without  sense  or  meaning.  Such 
a  face  lacks  the  main  essentials ;  it  lacks  spiritual 
life ;  it  lacks  the  characteristics  of  an  indwelling 
mind.  While  the  true  artist  puts  the  features 
upon  the  canvas  in  exact  proportions,  he  considers 
his  work  a  failure  unless  from  the  face  the  char- 
acter and  the  life  and  the  soul  of  the  man  look  out. 
He  wants  the  face  to  be  the  window  of  the  soul. 
He  wants  it  to  represent  the  man,  so  that  when 
we  become  thoroughly  acquainted  with  him  and 
know  his  inner  and  secret  history  we  could  not 
imagine  it  possible  for  him  to  have  a  different  face. 
The  face  of  Jesus  Christ,  as  it  looks  up  at  us  from 
the  holy  page,  realizes  the  highest  aim  of  true  art. 
It  introduces  us  to  a  living  man.  It  makes  His 
great  attributes  burn  and  thrill.  It  chronicles  His 
tragic  history.  It  opens  a  wide  window  into  His 
nature. 

Let  us  turn  the  pages  of  the  Bible  album  and 
look,  for  a  moment  or  two,  into  some  of  the  faces 
of  Jesus  Christ  which  we  find  there.  As  we  have 
not  time  to  look  at  all  of  these  faces,  our  study 
must  be  suggestive,  not  exhaustive. 

I.  The  first  face  of  Jesus  Christ  which  meets  our 
eye  in  turning  the  pages  of  the  Bible  album  is 
The  Heroic  Face. 

"And  it  came  to  pass,  when  the  time  was  come 
that  He  should  be  received  up,  He  steadfastly  set 
His  face  to  go  to  Jerusalem  "  (Luke  9 :  51). 


62  OUR   BEST  MOODS. 

Look  into  that  face  turned  Jerusalem-ward.  It 
is  a  mirror.  It  reflects  every  dark  thing  which 
awaits  Jesus  at  the  Judaean  metropolis.  He  saw 
all — the  betrayal,  the  desertion,  the  calumnies,  the 
false  testimony,  the  scourge,  the  crown  of  thorns, 
the  cross,  the  divine  desertion,  and  the  dark  tomb. 
And  yet  He  kept  His  face  fronting  these  awful 
realities,  and  His  feet  moving  toward  them.  That 
fixed  face,  reflecting  the  dark  future  in  Jerusalem, 
is  full  of  revelations  and  thoughts  concerning  Jesus 
Christ  which  ought  to  move  our  souls,  and  which 
ought  to  react  in  our  fidelity  to  Him  and  His 
cause.  My  soul,  what  seest  thou  in  this  heroic 
face  of  Jesus  Christ?  I  see  there  the  whole  cov- 
enant of  God.  The  eternal  purpose  and  decree  of 
God  are  in  and  back  of  and  beneath  that  face. 
The  deliberate  decision  of  Jesus,  after  a  thorough 
canvass  of  every  dark  and  coming  thing,  is  in  that 
face.  The  resolution  of  the  infinite  and  unchang- 
ing love  of  the  Saviour  is  in  that  face.  The  con- 
scious and  voluntary  self-sacrifice  of  Christ  is  in 
that  face.  The  whole  mission  of  the  Son  of  God 
into  this  world  is  in  that  face.  All  of  the  features  in 
the  fixed  face  speak,  and  unitedly  they  utter  with 
solemn  emphasis  the  one  purpose  which  sways  the 
entire  being  of  Jesus :  "  I  have  a  baptism  to  be 
baptized  with,  and  how  am  I  straitened  until  it  be 
accomplished." 

That  face  tells  us  that  every  faculty  and  power 
of  Christ  was  strained  to  its  utmost  tension.     The 


THE  FACE    OF  JESUS   CHRIST.  63 

cross  cast  a  black  shadow  from  Jerusalem  to  the 
spot  where  He  stood,  and  so  dark  did  it  make  the 
way  that  every  step  which  He  took  was  a  new 
sacrifice  of  self.  Walking  from  this  spot  to  Cal- 
vary was  like  walking  into  a  dark,  dank  tunnel — it 
was  a  passage  from  light  to  central  darkness. 

Do  not  undervalue  the  heroism  of  Jesus  as  seen 
in  this  face.  He  did  not  find  it  easy  to  walk  to 
Jerusalem.  There  were  ten  thousand  obstacles 
between  Him  and  the  city  of  crucifixion.  The 
sorrowful  faces  of  His  disciples  were  in  the  way. 
It  took  the  rudeness  of  an  unalterable  resolution 
to  say  to  the  devoted  Peter,  who  led  the  opposition 
of  His  heart-broken  friends,  "  Get  thee  behind  Me, 
Satan."  The  shrinking  of  His  sensitive  humanity 
stood  in  the  way.  It  took  all  the  arguments  and 
motives  that  could  be  drawn  from  the  covenant  of 
eternity,  and  from  the  wretched  condition  of  the 
hopelessly  lost  for  whom  He  was  to  die,  to  brace 
His  quivering  nerves  and  His  shrinking  flesh  and 
blood,  and  to  give  His  human  hand  the  power  to 
lift  the  cup  to  His  lips  and  turn  it  over  so  that 
He  might  drain  it  to  the  bitter  dregs.  "  He  stead- 
fastly set  His  face!"  The  words  imply  a  desper- 
ate conflict,  and  victory  won  only  by  means  of  it. 
This  hero-face  of  our  Redeemer  speaks  of  the 
constraint  of  every  faculty  of  Jesus  in  the  formation 
of  His  resolution  to  die  for  our  sins.  It  tells  us  of 
the  operation  of  the  energy  of  the  Godhead. 

We  value  the  heroic  face  of  Jesus  Christ,     It 


64  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

helps  to  set  forth  the  fierceness  of  the  battle  of 
Calvary,  which  He  won  as  our  champion.  It  sets 
before  us  just  what  true  heroism  is.  It  inspires  us 
to  a  like  heroism.  That  face  has  been  an  untold 
power  in  the  world.  It  made  the  apostles  Peter 
and  John,  and  their  colleagues.  It  made  the  mar- 
tyrs of  Jesus,  Stephen  and  James  and  John  Huss 
and  Jerome  of  Prague.  It  made  the  reformers 
Zwingli  and  Knox  and  Luther.  That  face  will  be 
a  power  so  long  as  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ 
lasts.  It  will  continue  to  make  heroes  of  faith, 
and  to  shame  the  indifference  and  coldness  of 
professed  Christians. 

II.  The  second  face  of  Jesus  Christ  which  meets 
us  as  we  turn  the  pages  of  the  Bible  album  is  The 
Face  Fouled  and  Bruised  by  Human  Con- 
tempt and  Intolerance. 

"And  they  did  spit  in  His  face,  and  buffeted 
Him." 

"And  when  they  had  blindfolded  Him  they 
struck  Him  on  the  face." 

We  would  fain  turn  this  page  of  the  album  with- 
out looking  at  this  face,  but  we  dare  not.  Its 
study  is  essential  to  a  full  history  of  Christ.  It  is 
a  most  mortifying  picture.  But  it  is  true  to  life. 
Filthy  villains  fouled  His  clean  and  holy  cheeks, 
and  demon- moved  men  drove  their  fists  into  His 
face.  God's  camera  photographed  the  scene  on 
the  instant,  and  gave  it  a  dark  immortality.  As 
we  turn  God's  album,  we  dare  not  pass  this  picture. 


THE  FACE   OF  JESUS   CHRIST.  65 

We  must  study  it  until  these  dark  facts  are  burned 
into  our  consciousness,  viz.,  His  blessed  face  bore 
the  kiss  of  human  treason,  and  the  spittle  of  human 
contempt,  and  the  stinging  blow  of  human  anger 
and  prejudice. 

We  must  look  upon  this  picture  as  bringing  us 
two  revelations.  It  is  a  revelation  of  the  patience 
of  Jesus.  Did  He  resent  this  treatment?  No. 
There  is  not  a  man  breathing  who  would  not  have 
resented  it.  He  maintained  a  golden  silence.  He 
wielded  the  power  of  forbearance  and  forgiveness, 
and  showed  the  world  that  it  is  mightier  than  the 
power  of  brute  force  and  resentment.  Many  of 
these  very  men  who  maltreated  Him  were  led  to 
believe  in  Him,  and  to  cry  for  salvation  through 
the  blood  which  they  shed.  Could  He  not  have 
delivered  Himself?  He  could.  Omnipotence  slum- 
bered in  His  arm.  He  could  have  scorched  these 
wretches  of  humanity  to  ashes  by  a  single  glance 
of  His  eye.  Did  He  feel  the  indignity  heaped 
upon  Him?  Yes;  He  was  sensitive  beyond  con- 
ception to  the  treatment  which  He  received  from 
men.  He  had  uttered  this  touching  lament  over 
non-appreciation,  "  Ye  will  not  come  unto  Me  that 
ye  may  have  life."  He  said,  "  Reproach  hath 
broken  My  heart."  He  was  keenly  sensitive,  and 
yet  He  bore  all  this  indignity  without  a  murmur; 
for  this  was  the  God-appointed  way  of  saving  man. 
To  save  man  the  Son  of  God  was  willing  to  do 
anything  and  to  bear  anything.     This  is  what  we 


66  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

are  taught  by  the  picture  of  His  face  fouled  by 
human  contempt. 

But  the  picture  is  not  only  a  revelation  of  Christ, 
it  is  a  revelation  of  humanity. 

You  grow  indignant  when  you  think  how  the 
men  of  Christ's  day  treated  Him.  You  say,  "  If 
any  set  of  men  in  this  nineteenth  century  had 
treated  Abraham  Lincoln  or  General  Grant  as  the 
Jews  treated  Jesus,  the  whole  nation  would  have 
become  insane  with  rage,  and  would  not  have  rested 
until  vengeance  had  done  its  work."  Your  de- 
nunciation of  the  men  who  insulted  and  crucified 
Christ  knows  no  bounds.  Do  not  be  so .  fierce. 
Remember  David  when  he  looked  at  the  demon- 
figure  which  Nathan  held  before  him.  Remember 
the  indignation  and  denunciation  of  the  Pharisees 
when  Christ  held  before  them  the  picture  of  the 
murdered  son.  Your  indignation  is  indignation 
heaped  upon  self,  and  upon  the  nature  which  you 
brought  with  you  into  the  world  and  in  which  you 
live.  Have  you  never  been  stirred  by  the  ques- 
tions, "  Why  did  the  will  of  God  require  Jesus  to 
suffer  from  wicked  men  in  the  way  in  which  He 
did  ?  Why  did  not  God  command  fire  to  leap 
from  the  skies  and  consume  Christ  as  a  sacrifice, 
just  as  He  sent  fire  and  consumed  Elijah's  sacrifice 
on  Carmel  ?  Why  were  the  expiatory  sufferings 
to  be  made  up  of  insults,  and  calumnies,  and  per- 
secutions, and  tortures,  inflicted  by  the  hands  of 
the  men  whom  He  came  to  save?"     The  answer 


THE  FACE    OF  JESUS   CHRIST.  67 

is  this.  God  in  this  way  intended  to  give  human 
nature  a  revelation  of  itself.  Men  need  this  reve- 
lation. There  is  no  revelation  that  they  need  more, 
save  the  revelation  of  redemption.  Men  write 
humanity  too  high.  They  must  write  it  down. 
The  air  is  full  of  the  fulsome  praises  of  humanity 
sung  by  a  cultured  and  an  ultra  liberalism. 
"Humanity!"  How  they  dwell  upon  the  word, 
and  draw  out  every  letter  and  every  syllable  as 
though  it  were  the  only  golden  word  in  the  vocab- 
ulary of  man.  They  could  not  ring  more  music 
into  the  word  "divinity"  than  they  ring  into  the 
word  "  humanity."  They  discourse  upon  the  pos- 
sibilities of  humanity.  They  tell  of  the  achieve- 
ments of  humanity.  They  dilate  upon  the  evolu- 
tion of  humanity.  They  present  the  self-sufficiency 
of  humanity.  They  set  humanity  forth  as  having 
in  itself  the  germs  of  all  possible  good.  In  the 
presence  of  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ  fouled  with 
the  spittle  of  human  contempt,  we  drive  the  nail 
of  truth  through  the  head  of  this  fatal  error. 
Humanity  of  itself,  and  unregenerated  by  the 
Spirit  of  God,  has  in  it  only  the  germs  that  grow 
into  the  crucifixion  of  Christ  with  all  the  horrible 
crimes  connected  with  that  crucifixion.  Humanity 
in  itself  is  only  moral  rubbish.  If  it  ever  becomes  a 
moral  cosmos,  it  must  become  so  by  the  operation 
of  a  divine  power  outside  of  itself.  God  Himself 
must  come  down  to  man  and  lift  man.  Humanity, 
following  its  own  bent,  means  demonized  passions 


68  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

which  will  strike  the  Son  of  God  in  the  face,  and 
profane  His  pure  cheek. 

God  has  given  us  this  face  of  Jesus  Christ  to 
humble  us  and  to  convict  us  of  sin,  and  to  show 
us  the  trend  of  our  nature  when  it  is  ungoverned 
by  His  restraining  and  sanctifying  grace.  He 
would  have  us  turn  to  our  soul  and  say,  "  O  my 
soul,  thou  art  the  criminal!"  Through  this  face 
He  charges  us  with  guilt,  just  as  Christ  charged 
the  Pharisees  with  the  blood  of  the  saints  from 
righteous  Abel  to  murdered  Zacharias.  They 
were  the  children  of  murderers,  because  they  in- 
herited the  spirit  of  their  fathers.  Humanity 
belongs  to  the  confederacy  of  evil  which  treated 
Jesus  shamefully.  The  world  crucified  Christ. 
All  ages  past  and  present  were  represented  in  that 
solemn  drama.  You  and  I  were  there.  Our 
nature  was  there.  It  was  a  human  mouth  that 
profaned  that  sacred  face ;  it  was  a  human  fist  that 
bruised  it;  it  was  a  human  hand  that  held  the 
crucificial  hammer  and  drove  the  nails  through  His 
quivering  nerves.  And  back  of  that  mouth  and 
fist  and  hand  were  the  very  passions  and  feelings 
which  throb  in  our  souls  to-day.  Stand  by  this 
face  which  thou  hast  profaned,  O  humanity,  and 
learn  the  dark  possibilities  of  thy  nature.  Stand 
by  this  face  and  mourn,  O  my  soul. 

III.  Another  face  meets  us  in  turning  the  leaves 
of  the  Bible  album:  it  is  The  Face  IN  THE 
Dust. 


THE  FACE    OF  JESUS   CHRIST.  69 

"And  He  went  a  little  farther  and  fell  on  His 
face  and  prayed,  O  My  Father,  if  it  be  possible 
let  this  cup  pass  from  Me." 

"  The  purpose  of  His  heart  is  ripening,  the 
divine  decree  is  coming  to  the  utterance  of  its  last 
syllable,  the  prophecy  which  has  been  the  poetry 
and  light  of  the  world  is  now  about  to  pass  into 
stern  history,  and  the  transition  fills  the  Saviour 
with  agony."  It  brings  His  face  into  the  dust. 
You  can  see  that  there  is  a  weight  crushing  Christ. 
You  can  see  that  His  agony  is  awful ;  it  is  a  soul 
agony ;  it  is  an  agony  which  no  other  soul  ever 
knew.  It  had  to  be  endured  without  human  sym- 
pathy, because  it  was  outside  of  the  pale  of  human 
knowledge.  The  best  of  humanity  and  the  truest 
of  earthly  friends  slept  when  Jesus  struggled  in 
Gethsemane.  His  soul  was  sore  amazed,  and  was 
exceedingly  sorrowful  even  unto  death.  Sorrow- 
ful emotions,  like  tidal  waves,  rolled  through  His 
soul.  "  Deep  called  unto  deep."  Gethsemane 
was  to  the  prostrate  form  with  His  face  in  the  dust 
Calvary  before  its  time.  His  soul  ran  ahead  and 
anticipated  all  that  was  coming,  and  rolled  it  up 
into  one  great  wave ;  ere  He  knew  it  the  wave 
dashed  over  Him  and  overwhelmed  Him.  What 
was  it  that  agonized  the  soul  of  Jesus?  Not  the 
fact  that  death  awaited  Him ;  not  the  conse- 
quences of  death  ;  but  the  mode  of  His  death.  He 
was  about  to  be  branded  as  a  sinner,  and  treated 
as  a  sinner,  and  put  to  death  as  a  sinner.     He  was 


70  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

about  to  come  into  contact  with  sin.  This  was 
what  appalled  Him.  The  agony  which  buried  His 
face  in  the  dust  was  His  horror  of  sin.  Geth- 
semane  means  simply  Christ  shrinking  from  sin. 
He  had  consented  to  take  the  law-place  of  the  sin- 
ner, and  to  be  treated  as  though  He  were  a  sinner, 
and  to  be  executed  as  a  sinner,  and  now  when  He 
anticipates  Calvary,  the  reality  of  what  He  had 
consented  to  be  and  to  do  breaks  in  upon  Him, 
and  He  shrinks  back  for  a  moment  and  cries  for 
relief.  When  He  consented  He  thought  He  knew 
all  that  would  overtake  Him:  but  now  He  finds 
that  He  knew  nothing.  He  had  to  reconsecrate 
Himself  to  His  mission,  and  to  struggle  against 
His  shrinking  from  sin  until  He  sweat  great  drops 
of  blood.  "The  Book  of  Martyrs,"  says  Dr.  C. 
S.  Robinson,  "  tells  us  of  a  disciple  of  Christ  who 
was  condemned  to  death  by  being  put  in  a  sack 
with  venomous  serpents.  He  thought  he  knew  all 
that  this  fearful  sentence  meant.  He  tried  for 
days  to  accustom  his  mind  to  the  contemplation. 
Forcefully  he  held  his  imagination  up  to  the  horror 
of  the  doom  by  dwelling  upon  it,  and  by  saying  to 
himself,  '  I  can  bear  it  for  Christ  my  Master.'  And 
yet  when  plunged  in  among  the  hideous  reptiles, 
the  moment  he  felt  their  cold,  crawling  folds 
against  his  flesh  he  lifted  his  voice  in  one  wild 
scream  of  fright  and  horror.  He  knew  then  what 
he  never  could  foresee,  the  utter,  utter  loathing  he 
felt."     Christ  had  often  contemplated  His  treat- 


THE  FACE    OF  JESUS   CHRIST.  7 1 

nient  as  a  sinner,  but  in  Gethsemane  the  reality 
broke  in  upon  Him  with  such  unexpected  force 
that  it  threw  Him  to  the  ground  in  a  paralysis  of 
horror  and  grief,  and  buried  His  face  in  the  dust. 

IV.  The  next  face  of  Jesus  Christ  which  looks 
up  at  us  from  this  Bible  album  is  The  Face 
awfully  Marred. 

"  His  visage  was  marred  more  than  any  man's, 
and  His  form  more  than  the  sons  of  men." 

This  is  the  face  of  Christ  when  sin  and  suffering 
have  completed  their  work.  Everything  is  over, 
and  the  face  lies  cold  in  death.  Every  line  in  it 
says,  "  He  was  a  man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted 
with  grief."  The  hand  of  time  takes  the  human 
face  and  works  into  it  every  experience  through 
which  the  man  passes,  just  as  the  sculptor  works 
his  thoughts  into  a  piece  of  Carrara  marble.  The 
whole  of  your  past  life  is  expressed  in  some  form 
in  your  face.  God  can  read  it  there  as  easily  as 
though  it  were  printed  in  a  book.  Even  your 
fellow-man  can  read  much  of  it.  In  Christ's  face 
the  whole  of  His  human  life  was  expressed.  This 
is  the  face  out  of  which  His  earthly  experience 
looked :  "  His  visage  was  marred  more  than  any 
man's."  Everything  wore  that  face.  Read  its 
wrinkles  and  furrows  and  cross-lines !  Here  is  the 
deep  furrow  run  by  the  divine  desertion,  which 
called  out  the  cry,  "  Eloi,  Eloi,  lama  sabacthani." 
Here  is  the  ugly  scar  which  the  kiss  of  treason  left. 
How  it  wears  a  face  to  come  through  a  bereave- 


72  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

ment!  Here  are  the  lines  which  tell  how  deeply 
His  groaning  spirit  was  moved  at  the  grave  of 
Bethany.  How  it  wears  the  face  to  see  those 
whom  we  love  meeting  the  doom  of  their  sin! 
Oh  the  horror  and  pain  which  pierce  the  parent's 
heart  when  it  hears  the  crash  of  the  prison  door 
as  it  shuts  his  condemned  boy  into  the  cell!  He 
would  not  heed  parental  warning,  nor  accept  par- 
ental guidance.  He  would  go  to  his  doom.  One 
day  of  such  grief  will  put  ten  years  of  age  upon  a 
parent's  face.  Here  are  the  furrows  which  Christ's 
grief  over  the  doom  of  Jerusalem  plowed.  Here 
are  the  lines  which  the  scalding  tears  burned  into 
His  cheeks.  Yes,  in  this  face  awfully  marred  we 
have  all  the  sorrowful  experience  of  Jesus.  The 
temptation!  Kedron!  The  betrayal!  The  de- 
sertion! The  reproach!  The  non-appreciation! 
The  pang  of  thirst !  The  pang  of  the  hiding  of 
the  Father's  face  and  the  pang  of  death! 

His  earthly  career  was  enough  to  mar  any  face, 
and  especially  a  face  which  belonged  to  a  nature 
so  exquisitely  constructed.  Look  on  the  marred 
face  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  read  the  terrible  nature 
of  sin!  Look  on  the  marred  face  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  learn  the  wonderful  price  paid  for  your  re- 
demption. 

The  faces  of  Christ  which  we  have  seen  thus  far 
are  darkly  shaded ;  but  dark  shading  is  not  the 
characteristic  of  all  the  faces  of  Christ  found  in  the 
Bible  album.     There  are  faces  here  which  beam 


THE  FACE    OF  JESUS   CHRIST.  73 

with  majesty  and  splendor:  faces  overflowing  with 
divine  beauty  and  light. 

V.  Among  the  bright  faces  we  have  The 
Transfigured  Face. 

"  And  His  face  did  shine  as  the  sun  and  His 
raiment  was  white  as  the  light." 

The  transfigured  face  is  a  symbol  of  the  divinity 
of  Jesus.  It  sets  Him  forth  as  the  coeternal  Son 
of  God.  It  teaches  us  that  He  who  was  infolded 
by  the  Pillar  of  Fire  in  the  days  of  Moses,  and  was 
called  Jehovah  by  the  Hebrews,  is  now  infolded 
by  a  human  body  and  is  called  Jesus  Christ. 
Light  is  the  symbol  of  God.  "  God  is  light,  and 
in  Him  is  no  darkness  at  all."  When,  therefore, 
we  see  divine  radiance  breaking  forth  in  over- 
awing grandeur  through  the  worn  and  tired  human- 
ity of  Jesus,  like  an  inner  light  flashing  through  a 
crystal  vase,  we  are  compelled  to  accept  of  His 
deity,  and  to  teach  that  "  in  Him  dwelleth  all  the 
fullness  of  the  Godhead  bodily."  His  face  shone 
with  Shekinah  splendor,  because  He  was  the  She- 
kinah.  Underneath  the  transfigured  face  the  in- 
spired Paul  writes  this  inscription :  "  He  was  the 
brightness  of  the  Father's  glory  and  the  express 
image  of  His  person." 

Why  have  we  this  transfigured  face?  What  is 
the  purport  of  the  transfiguration  scene  in  the  his- 
tory of  Jesus?  That  brief  night  of  glory  on  the 
mount  was  meant  to  play  an  important  part  in  His 
history.      It  was  designed  to  reveal  the  real  person 


74  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

hidden  in  that  human  body,  and  in  this  way  to 
interpret  the  human  life  of  Jesus  and  to  declare 
its  purpose.  The  life  of  Christ  had  been  misinter- 
preted ;  all  manner  of  falsehoods  had  been  uttered 
against  Him.  Men  were  not  able  to  understand 
His  life,  or  place  upon  it  a  proper  value.  The 
transfiguration  came  to  their  help.  It  gave  the 
world  the  key  with  which  to  open  it.  This  is  the 
key :  the  person  who  lives  this  life  is  a  divine 
person.  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Son  of  God.  This 
fact  transfigures  the  whole  earthly  life  of  Jesus. 
We  see  God  in  it,  living  among  men,  and  giving 
the  world  the  freshest,  and  clearest,  and  fullest, 
and  most  cognizable  revelation  of  Himself.  He 
speaks  to  men  in  the  eloquence  of  a  divine  life. 
This  revelation  is  better  than  the  face  "of  God  in 
nature,  beautiful  as  nature  is  to-day  in  its  autumnal 
splendor.  It  is  better  than  the  autograph  of  God 
on  the  tables  of  stone.  It  is  better  than  the  writ- 
ings of  inspired  penmen.  There  is  not  a  truth  in 
nature,  or  in  the  moral  law,  or  in  the  Inspired 
Book,  which  is  not  found  expressed  in  the  life  of 
Jesus.  He  embodied  all  holy  principles.  He  up- 
held righteousness,  and  at  the  same  time  declared 
mercy.  He  magnified  the  law,  and  at  the  same 
time  expressed  infinite  love.  When  we  look  into 
the  face  of  history  the  different  attributes  of  God 
seem  to  clash  ;  but  in  the  life  of  Jesus,  all  the  at- 
tributes of  God  are  brought  into  play,  and  they 
work  together  in  perfect  harmony.      Once   grasp 


THE  FACE    OF  JESUS   CHRIST.  75 

the  fact  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Son  of  God,  and 
you  will  see  in  His  life  "  God  manifest  in  the  flesh." 
In  every  deed  of  His  daily  life  you  will  see  a 
gospel,  or  an  epistle,  or  an  apocalypse,  in  which 
you  can  read  the  nature  and  will  of  God.  Is  His 
transfiguration  face  a  picture  of  reality  ?  Then  the 
virtues  and  principles  and  dispositions  which  Jesus 
exemplified  in  His  daily  living  are  fac-similes  of 
God.  They  are  the  features  of  absolute  deity,  and 
reveal  the  face  of  the  Father.  Is  His  transfigu- 
ration face  the  outburst  of  indwelling  divinity  ? 
Then  Jesus  Christ  is  the  glory  of  God.  He  is 
Immanuel!  God  with  us.  In  Him  we  see  how 
God  lives  and  loves  and  pities  and  consoles,  and 
hates  pretension  and  hypocrisy.  In  Him  we  see 
how  God  pardons  sin,  and  cures  infirmities,  and  re- 
generates character,  and  transforms  human  nature 
into  the  beauties  of  holiness. 

VI.  The  next  bright  face  of  Christ  as  we  turn 
the  Bible  album  is  The  Face  on  THE  GREAT 
White  Throne. 

We  can  only  recognize  the  fact  that  this  face  is 
there. 

VII.  One  face  more,  and  with  it  we  close  the 
album;  it  is  The  Flashing  Face  amid  the 
Golden  Candlesticks. 

"And  in  the  midst  of  the  seven  golden  candle- 
sticks was  one  like  unto  the  Son  of  man ;  and 
His  countenance  was  as  the  sun  shining  in  his 
strength. " 


76  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

The  golden  candlesticks  are  symbols  of  the 
Church.  The  face  of  Christ  amid  the  golden 
candlesticks  is  the  face  of  our  Mediatorial  King, 
who  reigns  for  the  triumph  of  the  Church.  Into 
the  marred  face  of  Jesus  we  read  every  dark  thing 
in  the  career  of  Christ ;  into  the  flashing  face  amid 
the  golden  candlesticks  we  must  read  every  bright 
thing.  In  it  is  the  triumph  of  the  cross,  and  the 
gladness  of  the  resurrection,  and  the  song  of  the 
ascension,  "  Lift  up  your  heads,  O  ye  gates."  In 
it  is  the  coronation  of  heaven,  and  by  anticipation 
the  coronation  of  earth.  In  the  face  buried  in  the 
dust  we  saw  a  reflection  of  the  dark  past ;  in  the 
flashing  face  amid  the  golden  candlesticks  we  see 
a  reflection  of  the  glorious  future.  For  there  is  a 
glorious  future  for  Christ,  and  that  on  the  very 
scene  of  His  humiliation.  He  must  be  crowned 
where  He  was  crucified.  Prophecy  says  that  He 
shall  be.  I  cannot  tell  how  long  it  will  be  before 
we  see  the  sunburst  of  that  prophetic  day ;  but  I 
can  confidently  assert  that  we  shall  see  the  sun- 
burst. Here  it  is  in  the  Book.  The  notes  of 
Christ's  triumph  ring  from  Eden  of  Genesis  to 
Paradise  of  Revelation.  The  predictions  of  tri- 
umph flash  like  electric  jets  against  the  black  sky 
of  night.  The  song  of  triumph  is  fully  written 
out,  and  we  are  only  waiting.  Waiting  for  what? 
Why,  waiting  for  the  singing  time  to  come.  When 
it  comes  human  voices  on  earth  will  join  with  angel 
voices   in   heaven,    and    like   the   sound   of    many 


THE  FACE    OF  JESUS   CHRIST  J  J 

waters,  and  like  the  peal  of  mighty  thunders,  they 
will  swell  the  grand  anthem :  "Alleluia,  the  Lord 
God  Omnipotent  reigneth.  The  kingdoms  of  this 
world  have  become  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord  and 
of  His  Christ,  and  He  shall  reign  forever  and 
ever." 

A  final  word  or  two. 

i .  Our  treatment  of  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ  is 
an  index  of  our  character. 

When  MacGregor's  boy  was  stolen  during  the 
war  between  the  Scottish  clans,  and  made  to  ex- 
change clothes  with  a  peasant  boy,  he  revealed  his 
identity  even  in  peasant  clothes  by  the  way  in 
which  he  used  the  things  of  the  palace.  The  ques- 
tion to  be  decided  was,  Which  of  the  lads  is  Mac- 
Gregor's son?  This  was  the  method  of  discovery. 
Both  lads  were  brought  into  the  palace  and 
watched.  On  entering  the  palace  the  peasant  boy 
threw  himself  down  to  sleep  upon  the  straw  bed 
in  the  servants'  apartment,  for  such  was  his  wont 
— he  was  born  and  reared  in  these  apartments — 
but  MacGregor's  boy  on  entering  the  palace 
spurned  the  bed  of  straw  and  chose  the  best  couch 
in  the  palace.  Everybody  said  as  they  looked 
upon  the  sleeping  boy,  at  home  in  the  best  bed  of 
the  palace,  "That  is  MacGregor's  son."  We  are 
known  by  the  way  we  appreciate  and  use  our 
Christian  privileges.  Among  our  privileges  is 
access  to  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ.  If  we  avail 
ourselves   of   this   privilege  frequently,   if   we   are 


7 8  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

often  found  studying  this  face  in  its  different 
aspects,  and  preaching  the  great  facts  worked  into 
it,  we  indicate  a  familiarity  with  Christ,  and  a 
knowledge  of  Christ,  and  a  desire  and  a  love  to- 
ward Christ.  We  indicate  that  we  are  born  from 
above  and  are  the  sons  of  God. 

2.  The  face  of  Clirist  affords  an  inexhaustible 
and  soul-satisfying  study. 

Travelers  tell  us  that  sometimes  they  find  the 
path  leading  to  the  fountain  of  the  desert  strewn 
with  the  bones  of  those  who  have  perished  from 
thirst.  They  even  find  skulls,  whitened  and 
bleached,  bending  over  the  very  edge  of  the  fount- 
ain. Why?  The  men  dying  with  thirst  discov- 
ered upon  reaching  the  cistern  that  the  cistern  was 
broken  and  empty.  Christ  is  not  a  broken  cistern. 
The  world  is.  Human  philosophy  is.  Christ  is 
the  fountain  of  life  full  and  inexhaustible.  John 
Stuart  Mill  once  worried  himself  sad  lest  the  com- 
bination of  musical  sounds  might  some  day  be 
exhausted.  Demonstration  showed  him  his  folly. 
The  combinations  of  music  which  are  possible 
are  absolutely  inexhaustible.  There  are  thousands 
of  oratorios  as  yet  unborn.  Christ  is  infinitely 
farther  from  exhaustion  than  music  is.  He  will 
be  able  to  fill  and  to  delight  the  immortal  man 
throughout  eternity.  Looking  forward  to  his 
awakening  from  the  grave,  the  Hebrew  poet  sings, 
"As  for  me,  I  shall  behold  Thy  face  in  righteous- 
ness :  I  shall  be  satisfied  when  I  awake  with  Thy 
likeness."      John  in   Patmos,   when   he  wanted  to 


THE  FACE    OF  JESUS   CHRIST.  79 

put  a  climax  upon  his  description  of  the  blessed- 
ness of  those  who  walk  the  golden  streets  and  live 
in  the  celestial  city,  wrote,  "  They  shall  see  His 
face."  He  could  think  of  nothing  equal  to  that, 
and  there  is  nothing  equal  to  that ;  for  seeing  His 
face  means  transformation  into  His  likeness.  "  We 
shall  be  like  Him,  for  we  shall  see  Him  as  He  is." 
The  cloud  cannot  look  into  the  face  of  the  sun 
without  being  made  to  glow  with  its  splendor ; 
neither  can  Moses  look  upon  the  glory  of  God 
without  being  lit  with  dazzling  luster.  The  high- 
est prayer  which  Christ  found  it  possible  to  pray 
for  us  was,  "  Father,  I  will  that  they  also,  whom 
Thou  hast  given  Me,  be  with  Me  where  I  am ; 
that  they  may  behold  My  glory." 

Let  us  daily  study  and  contemplate  the  face  of 
our  Master,  and  as  we  contemplate  it  let  us  in 
prayer  ask  God  for  help.  Lord,  help  us  to  look 
aright  into  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ.  Give  us  open 
eyes.  Regale  our  spiritual  sight.  May  our  vis- 
ion of  Christ  thrill  us  and  excite  suitable  emotion 
within  us.  May  it  start  new  ideas,  rekindle  old 
memoriesT  awaken  fresh  sympathies,  revive  former 
impressions,  deepen  long-made  convictions  and 
resolutions  which  have  been  born  of  heaven,  and 
stir  our  souls  to  their  innermost  depths,  so  that 
they  may  join  in  the  song  of  Christ  which  is  des- 
tined to  be  universal,  "Worthy  is  the  Lamb  that 
was  slain  to  receive  power,  and  riches,  and  wisdom, 
and  strength,  and  honor,  and  glory,  and  blessing." 
Amen. 


IV. 


STRAIGHTFORWARD    SPEECH   AND   GENUINE 
LIFE. 


IV. 


STRAIGHTFORWARD    SPEECH    AND 
GENUINE    LIFE. 

" Let  your  yea  be  yea  ;  and  your  nay,  nay." — James  5:  12. 

My  text  is  ethical  and  not  doctrinal.  This  is  as 
it  should  be,  for  Christianity  is  not  exclusively  a 
creed.  It  is  chiefly  and  ultimately  a  life.  It  is 
true  that  it  brings  the  world  grand  doctrines  and 
sublime  truths  and  everlasting  principles,  and  it  is 
true  also  that  it  demands  that  the  Christian  Church 
shall  make  such  a  brief  and  reasonable  and  crystal- 
line statement  of  these  as  will  make  all  skepticism 
concerning  them  ridiculous ;  but  it  does  not,  in 
so  doing,  look  upon  grand  doctrines  and  sublime 
truths  and  everlasting  principles  as  an  end.  It 
treats  them  only  as  a  means  to  an  end.  The  end 
which  Christianity  is  seeking  is  a  holy  and  a  grand 
and  a  sublime  life.  The  ultimatum  to  which 
Christianity  is  pushing  man  is  grand  doctrines 
translated  into  a  true  and  a  living  faith ;  sublime 
truths  embodied  in  a  noble  and  influential  char- 
acter;  and   everlasting  principles  incarnated   into 

83 


84  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

an  unmistakable  and  shining  Christian  life.  The 
Christian  religion  proclaims  and  insists  upon  the 
purest  and  highest  ethics.  If  it  did  not,  it  would 
not  be  any  better  than  the  philosophies  of  the 
world ;  and  Christ  would  not  be  one  whit  in 
advance  of  those  teachers  who  do  not  make  half 
the  claims  which  He  makes.  Last  week  I  took 
down  from  the  shelf  of  my  library  the  writings  of 
Epictetus,  that  teacher  who  was  born  a  Roman 
slave,  and  turned  the  pages  of  his  two  volumes  to 
refresh  my  memory  as  to  what  he  taught.  I  found 
there  beautiful  disquisitions  upon  every  cardinal 
virtue  that  goes  to  make  up  that  which  we  call 
high  morality.  He  insists  upon  the  purest  kind 
of  ethics  in  every  relation  of  human  life.  He  lays 
down  masterful  rules  for  the  government  of  self. 
If  Christ  did  not  insist  upon  the  purest  and  the 
highest  ethics  He  would  be  outdone  and  surpassed 
by  Epictetus. 

It  is  charged  against  the  Christian  Church  to- 
day that  it  expends  too  much  effort  upon  the 
insistence  of  doctrine,  and  too  little  effort  upon  the 
insistence  of  a  holy  and  beautiful  and  morally 
rounded  ethical  life.  The  charge  may  be  true ;  I 
neither  affirm  it  nor  deny  it.  But  this  I  do  affirm  : 
when  the  charge  is  true  the  fault  is  not  with  Christ, 
nor  with  Christianity,  it  is  with  me,  and  with  other 
teachers  like  me,  who  fail  to  give  ethics  their  true 
emphasis  and  their  true  proportion  and  their  true 
prominence. 


SPEECH  AND  LIFE.  85 

If  any  one  wishes  to  see  how  Christianity 
preaches  ethics,  let  him  study  the  epistle  which 
gives  us  our  text,  and  let  him  also  study  the  Ser- 
mon on  the  Mount,  the  greatest  utterance  of  Jesus, 
to  which  this  epistle  is  so  largely  a  parallel.  These 
writings  are  ethical  from  A  to  Z.  They  show  that 
Christianity  is  so  ethical  that  it  means  to  carry 
ethics  into  the  very  center  of  a  man's  soul,  making 
pure  and  right  and  lofty  not  only  his  conduct,  but 
also  his  thoughts  and  motives  and  desires  and  in- 
ner disposition. 

What  does  Jesus  do  in  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount?  He  simply  lifts  before  mankind  the 
standard  of  living.  He  says  no  spiritual  fervor 
can  make  up  for  want  of  ethical  correctness.  He 
puts  gospel  righteousness  side  by  side  with  the 
righteousness  of  the  scribes  and  Pharisees,  to  the 
exaltation  of  gospel  righteousness.  Take  one  case 
in  point,  viz.,  His  interpretation  of  the  sixth  com- 
mandment. The  scribes  and  Pharisees  confined 
the  violation  of  that  commandment  to  literal  acts — 
to  blows  and  violence  which  struck  a  man  lifeless. 
Jesus  says  to  them,  "  This  is  very  low  morality. 
This  minimizes  the  precept.  The  precept  is  more 
wholesome  than  that,  and  far  broader.  I  say  unto 
you,  that  true  ethics  require  you  not  only  to  avoid 
striking  killing  blows,  but  they  require  you  to  seek 
those  dispositions  of  heart  which  are  farthest  re- 
moved from  the  infliction  of  injury.  You  must  be 
your  brother's  keeper.     Thou  shalt  not  strike  the 


86  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

killing  blow !  True  ;  but  more  than  that,  thou  shalt 
not  speak  the  hurting  word  against  thy  fellow-man, 
nor  call  him  by  the  degrading  name.  Your  fellow- 
man  has  a  right  to  claim  your  respect  and  rever- 
ence for  his  manhood  ;  he  has  a  right  to  stand  high 
in  your  mind.  There  is  but  a  short  step  from 
degrading  him  in  your  mind  to  inflicting  injury 
upon  him  with  your  hand.  Whatever  makes  the 
heart  murderous  is  a  violation  of  the  spirit  of  the 
commandment ;  now  murderous  thoughts  and 
murderous  words  do  this.  'TJiou  shalt  not  kill !  ' 
According  to  My  ethics,  that  means  thou  shalt 
love  thy  brother- man,  and  thou  shalt  surround  him 
with  the  defenses  of  love."  Such  is  Christ's  sixth 
commandment.  It  is  a  great  advance  upon  the 
sixth  commandment  which  only  says :  Thou  shalt 
not  fire  the  fatal  ball ;  thou  shalt  not  administer 
the  deadly  poison ;  thou  shalt  not  drive  the  mur- 
derous dagger  to  the  heart  of  thy  fellow-man. 

The  text  is  another  instance  of  gospel  ethics. 
It  sets  forth  the  ethics  of  Christ  under  another 
commandment,  the  ninth  commandment — the  com- 
mandment which  enjoins  upon  man  the  duty  of 
truth-speaking.  And  here  James  and  Jesus  agree. 
They  use  precisely  the  same  words.  James  was 
the  brother  of  Jesus  ;  both  were  sons  of  Mary,  and 
both  possessed  the  same  mental  characteristics, 
and  both  gave  the  world  writings  which  are  text- 
books in  morals. 

In  expounding  the  commandment  to  which  our 


SPEECH  ANp   LIFE.  87 

text  refers,  the  scribes  and  Pharisees  said  :  "If  you 
take  an  oath,  do  not  perjure  yourself;  do  not 
evade  your  oath ;  do  not  make  it  a  dead  letter ; 
let  there  be  no  perjury  or  false  swearing,  or  tram- 
pling under  foot  of  sacred  oaths."  In  reviewing 
this  interpretation,  Jesus  says :  "  Ye  scribes  and 
Pharisees,  while  this  is  good  so  far  as  it  goes,  it 
goes  but  a  little  way  ;  it  is  a  very  meager  advance 
in  the  right  direction ;  My  righteousness  would 
have  you  so  truthful  in  the  core  of  your  being, 
so  constantly  straightforward  in  your  speech,  that 
you  should  never  need  an  oath  ;  it  would  have  you 
so  sincere  in  heart  that  an  oath  should  be  super- 
fluous ;  it  would  renovate  your  nature  so  that  you 
shuold  by  a  divine  compulsion  always  express 
yourself  in  words  simple  and  transparent." 

In  the  eyes  of  Jesus  Christ  it  is  simply  mon- 
strous that  a  man  cannot  be  truthful  unless  he  is 
sworn,  and  unless  he  speaks  under  the  threat  of 
the  punishment  of  perjury.  If  an  oath  be  neces- 
sary to  make  him  tell  the  truth,  he  is  a  liar  in  his 
make-up.  There  are  some  men  who  not  only  tell 
lies,  but  they  are  lies  themselves.  They  are  false 
through  and  through.  Such  is  the  ethics  of  Jesus 
Christ,  that  He  would  educate  the  world  up  to  a 
point  where  there  should  be  no  need  of  a  man 
swearing  or  affirming  or  declaring.  He  gives  man- 
kind a  standard  of  morals  that  is  nothing  short 
of  the  heroic.  He  would  have  every  man  so  true 
that  his  life  should  be  a  transparent  yea  and  nay — 


88  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

i.e.,  a  life  lived  on  straight  lines:  no  adulteration 
of  the  truth  in  it ;  no  insincerity  in  it ;  no  equivo- 
cation in  it ;  no  trafficking  in  false  appearances  in 
it ;  no  hiding  behind  an  ambush  of  words  in  it ; 
no  circumlocution  in  it ;  no  simulation  in  it ;  but 
everything  real  and  open  and  aboveboard.  He 
would  have  a  man  so  genuine  in  the  roots  of  his 
being  that  those  who  knew  him  best  could  truth- 
fully say  of  him  what  Julia  of  Verona  said  of  her 
lover  Proteus : 

"  His  words  are  bonds,  his  oaths  are  oracles ; 
His  love  sincere,  his  thoughts  immaculate ; 
His  tears  pure  messengers,  sent  from  his  heart ; 
His  heart  as  far  from  fraud  as  heaven  from  earth." 

This  monosyllabic  text,  which  calls  us  to  a 
monosyllabic  life,  gives  us  one  of  the  manifold 
definitions  of  the  Christian  life.  The  Christian 
life  is  a  life  of  truth-speaking.  It  is  a  life  in 
which  our  words  match  our  thoughts,  and  our 
thoughts  fit  the  facts.  This  is  not  a  peculiar  defi- 
nition of  the  Christian  life ;  neither  is  it  a  trivial 
definition.  I  know  of  no  way  that  a  Christian  can 
be  a  greater  power  than  by  the  right  ordering  of 
his  speech.  The  faculty  of  speech  is  the  great- 
est gift  of  God  to  man,  and  by  no  faculty  can  we 
make  the  power  of  God  which  dwells  within  us  so 
largely  felt  by  our  fellow- men.  I  do  not  wonder, 
therefore,  that  nearly  every  writer  in  the  Book  of 
God  exalts  the  duty  of  keeping  the  door  of  one's 


SPEECH  AND  LIFE.  89 

lips.  Job  exclaims :  "  Fitly  spoken  words,  how 
good  they  are!"  Solomon  writes :  "Words  fitly 
spoken  are  like  apples  of  gold  in  baskets  of  silver." 
Paul  exhorts  the  members  of  the  different 
churches  :  "  Let  your  speech  be  always  with  grace, 
seasoned  with  salt;"  "and  lie  not  one  to  an- 
other;" "but  speak  the  truth  in  love."  He  ranks 
the  sins  of  speech  in  parallel  columns  with  the 
grossest  forms  of  the  animal  passions.  John,  the 
revelator,  cannot  write  the  sublime  passages  of  his 
Apocalypse  and  tell  of  the  glories  of  the  good  and 
true  without  throwing  in  a  Rembrandt  picture, 
full  of  black  shades,  revealing  the  final  doom  of 
the  untruthful :  "All  liars  shall  have  their  part  in 
the  lake  which  burneth  with  fire  and  brimstone." 
Luke  cannot  write  the  story  of  the  early  Church 
without  giving  in  detail  the  judgment  which  over- 
took Ananias  and  Sapphira,  who  were  struck  dead 
before  the  whole  church — the  one  for  acting  a  lie, 
and  the  other  for  speaking  a  lie.  The  narrative  of 
this  judgment  is  intended  to  fill  us  so  full  of  the 
fear  of  God  that  this  fear  will  drive  out  from  our 
hearts  the  fear  of  man.  It  is  the  fear  of  man  that 
leads  us  to  prevaricate  and  misrepresent  until  we 
wholly  lack  exactitude  and  trustworthiness.  The 
story  says  :  Think  of  God.  Speak  as  in  His  sight. 
Order  your  words  before  Him.  What  He  thinks 
is  the  important  thing,  for  His  decision  settles 
destiny. 

To  these  Scriptures  we  must  add  that  in  which 


90  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

Jesus  teaches  us  concerning  speech.  In  Him 
brighter  and  brighter  grows  the  light  which 
searches  out  all  wrong,  and  finer  and  finer  become 
the  meshes  which  catch  and  sift  out  and  reveal  the 
unfitness  which  mars  the  character  of  those  who 
should  be  pure  in  heart.  These  are  the  Master's 
words :  "  I  say  unto  you  that  every  idle  word  that 
men  shall  utter,  they  shall  give  account  thereof  in 
the  day  of  judgment ;  for  by  thy  words  shalt  thou 
be  justified,  and  by  thy  words  shalt  thou  be  con- 
demned." These  words  are  pungent  and  sobering 
to  thought.  They  ought  to  stimulate  to  moral 
earnestness.  Do  they  mean  that  if  I  speak  an  idle 
word,  or  a  trivial  word,  that  that  word  will  doom 
me  forever  to  banishment  from  God  and  consign 
me  forever  to  hopeless  degradation?  Certainly 
not.  The  words  of  Jesus  are  severe,  but  they  are 
not  so  severe  as  that.  They  do  say  that  every 
idle  word  is  a  deteriorating  force,  and  consequently 
ought  to  be  avoided ;  but  they  do  not  make  the 
one  idle  word  the  sole  basis  of  the  judgment  placed 
opposite  our  names.  Our  other  words  will  be 
taken  into  the  account  as  well — our  good  words 
and  true  words  and  brave  words.  Our  characters 
will  be  balanced  by  the  review  of  all  our  words ; 
an  average  will  be  struck.  Our  idle  words  will 
discount  the  words  which  we  have  filled  with  no- 
bility of  soul ;  they  will  cut  down  our  grade  and 
standing  before  God.  That  is  all.  But  that  is 
bad  enough.     That  is  enough  to  stimulate  any  man 


SPEECH  AND  LIFE.  9 1 

ambitious  to  make  the  most  of  himself  and  to  stand 
well  with  God  to  say,  "I  will  csclieiv  idle  words." 
Christ  does  not  wish  to  scare  us  to  death ;  but  He 
does  wish  to  point  out  our  real  danger,  and  to 
urge  us  to  such  excellency  of  speech  as  will  edify 
society  and  help  in  the  building  up  of  self,  and 
finally  win  for  us  the  "  well-done  "  and  welcome 
of  God. 

To  these  foregoing  Scriptures  we  must  add  the 
text.  The  text  is  radical ;  it  goes  down  to  the 
roots  of  human  life.  Its  brief  words  weigh  tons. 
They  strike  all  hypocrisy  out  of  life.  They  strike 
all  compromise  with  evil  out  of  life.  They  compel 
a  man  to  take  sides  in  every  great  struggle  be- 
tween right  and  wrong,  between  truth  and  error, 
between  the  wholesome  and  the  hurtful,  between 
the  genuine  and  the  false.  We  must  give  an  un- 
hesitating "yea  "  to  the  cause  of  the  good  in  the 
world — i.e.,  our  allegiance  to  the  cause  of  the  good 
must  be  one  of  absolute  loyalty  and  of  complete 
self-surrender;  and  we  must  give  an  uncompro- 
mising and  unchangeable  "nay"  to  the  solicitation 
of  the  cause  of  evil  in  the  world — i.e.,  our  opposi- 
tion to  evil  in  all  its  forms  must  be  unqualified  and 
deep-seated  and  fearless  and  manifest.  We  must 
throw  ourselves  against  evil  for  all  we  are  worth. 
This  is  what  it  means  to  be  a  "yea-man"  and  a 
"nay-man."1  The  terms  "  yea  "  and  "nay"  are 
the  heaviest-charged  words  in  human  language. 
The  spoken  "yea"  is  the  marriage  of  the  will  to 


92  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

the  good;  and  the  spoken  "nay"  is  the  veto- 
power  of  the  will  putting  the  stamp  of  condemna- 
tion upon  the  evil.  They  both  carry  character  in 
them,  and  they  are  both  the  symbols  of  strength 
and  of  rocky  ability  and  of  granite  fiber  in  a  man's 
moral  nature.  When  we  penetrate  to  the  lowest 
roots  of  our  actions  in  life  and  find  how  our  actions 
originate,  we  find  that  the  seed  of  everything  is  a 
"yea  "  or  a  "  nay  " — i.e.,  the  seed  of  every  action 
is  a  choice  or  a  refusal.  Since  this  is  so,  I  aver 
that  it  is  essential  that  in  our  motives  and  in  our 
speech  and  in  our  deeds  this  "  yea  pozuer"  and  this 
"  nay  power"  which  mold  and  shape  and  develop 
our  lives  shall  be  truthfully  and  rightly  exercised. 

When  our  choices  and  our  refusals  are  radically 
right,  our  speech  and  our  character  will  be  strong 
and  beautiful  with  a  "yea"  and  "nay"  simplicity 
and  transparency.  We  will  not  violate  the  canon 
of  politeness ;  we  will  not  be  rude  or  boorish,  or 
gruff  in  conduct ;  we  will  not  be  social  Bohemians  ; 
but  we  will  be  true  and  truthful,  precisionists  in 
speech,  and  haters  of  exaggerated  ears  and  tongues, 
and  the  enemies  of  all  sham  and  hypocrisy. 

In  order  to  make  the  treatment  of  our  theme 
profitable  I  propose  to  present  one  reason  enforc- 
ing genuine  life  and  straightforward  speech  upon 
the  part  of  God's  people ;  and  after  that  I  propose 
to  point  out  the  only  effective  way  of  reaching 
these  characteristics. 

The  abounding  falsities  of  life  amid  which  we 


SPEECH  AND  LIFE.  93 

live,  this  is  the  reason  why  ive  who  profess  to  be 
the  people  of  God  should  be  truthful  in  conduct  and 
straightforzvard  in  speech. 

These  abounding  falsities  must  be  rebuked  ;  but 
who  will  rebuke  them  if  Christians  do  not?  It  is 
imperative  that  somebody  testify  that  these  are 
not  in  accord  with  the  pure  ethics  of  the  gospel  of 
Christ.  But  where  are  these  abounding  falsities? 
Everywhere  in  human  society.  They  are  in  the 
theories  which  men  hold,  and  they  are  in  the 
practices  which  men  follow. 

The  popular  theory,  viz.,  that  success  purchased 
at  any  cost  is  the  chief  good  of  man,  is  an  example. 
This  is  the  theory  which  weighs  hosts  of  men. 
Robert  Browning  shows  us  the  working  of  this 
theory  in  his  poem  called  "  Bishop  Blougram's 
Apology."  The  story  of  the  poem  is  this:  Two 
young  men,  classmates,  had  separated  upon  grad- 
uation day,  and  had  gone  their  respective  ways. 
One  had  become  a  bishop ;  the  other  had  reached 
nothing  so  far  as  fame  went,  but  he  had  succeeded 
in  keeping  true  to  his  conscience.  The  two  met 
again  in  after-years.  The  bishop  invited  his  old 
comrade  to  dine  with  him,  and  over  the  wine  after 
dinner  he  laid  before  him  his  philosophy  of  life. 
Half  wise,  half  cynical,  half  sneering,  he  pointed 
out  the  fact  that  he  had  won  success,  fame,  money, 
power,  honor,  distinction.  His  boast  was :  "  I 
stand  here  on  the  pinnacle  of  fame ;  but  you,  poor 
fellow,  when  you  came  to  the  point  where  the  path 


94  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

turned  to  fame,  allowed  your  conscience  to  inter- 
fere." In  the  poem  Browning  makes  it  clear  that 
at  the  bottom  of  his  soul  the  bishop  is  an  utter 
skeptic.  He  does  not  believe  in  his  creed,  nor  in 
the  God  he  worships,  nor  in  the  heaven  he  has 
been  trying  to  induce  men  to  enter.  He  does  not 
feel  quite  sure  of  anything  except  that  he  is  bishop. 
But  so  long  as  he  has  the  highest  success  he  is 
willing  to  chance  it  on  all  other  things.  The  great 
mass  of  people  live  their  lives  according  to  this 
philosophy.  Success  at  any  cost  is  their  goal. 
Now,  against  this  false  philosophy  it  is  our  duty  to 
lift  up  Christ,  by  being  among  men  Christlike,  and 
by  putting  truth  and  truth-speaking  and  truth- 
acting  above  immediate  and  near  success  as  a  goal. 
Christ's  policy  of  life  was  the  very  opposite  of  the 
policy  followed  by  Bishop  Blougram.  You  re- 
member one  occasion  when  He  spoke  the  truth  so 
fully  and  so  clearly  that  it  is  recorded,  "  On  that 
day  many  went  back  and  followed  Him  no  more." 
He  might  have  rationally  argued :  "  I  am  losing 
My  hold  upon  the  people ;  better  modify  ;  better 
cater  to  the  multitude  a  little,  for  if  I  keep  them  I 
can  influence  them."  But  Jesus  did  not  argue 
thus.  He  just  kept  straight  on  speaking  the  truth 
in  His  usual  way.  The  result  was  the  nation  left 
Him  ;  the  multitudes  whom  He  fed  left  Him  ;  the 
seventy  whom  He  commissioned  left  Him ;  even 
His  own  chosen  twelve  left  Him ;  He  stood  alone 
between  heaven  and  earth,  with  a  malefactor  on 


SPEECH  AND   LIFE.  95 

one  side  of  Him  and  a  malefactor  on  the  other  side 
of  Him,  and  with  His  life-work  an  utter  wreck 
about  His  feet.  But  what  has  taken  place  since? 
Simply  because  He  was  honest,  and  stood  in  His 
integrity,  and  uttered  the  truth,  He  holds  to-day 
a  universal  power,  and  is  an  eternal  success.  It 
was  the  lifting  of  Christ  on  the  hill  of  Calvary  that 
made  Calvary  the  loftiest  mountain  on  the  globe. 
It  costs  to  be  true,  but  in  the  end  it  pays.  Men 
will  brand  you  a  faddist,  and  a  fanatic,  and  a 
Utopian  enthusiast,  and  an  unpractical  dreamer, 
and  a  grand  humbug;  but  if  you  are  true,  your 
influence  for  good  will  grow. 

If  you  fearlessly  rebuke  falsehood  and  vice  you 
must  expect  to  be  treated  as  Bunyan  tells  us 
Faithful  was  treated  in  Vanity  Fair.  John  Bun- 
yan was  gifted  with  keen  insight.  He  thus  de- 
scribes the  experience  of  Faithful :  "  On  the 
testimony  of  Mr.  Envy,  the  jury  under  my  Lord 
Hategood  unanimously  brought  in  Faithful  guilty. 
'  I  see  clearly  that  this  man  is  a  heretic,'  said  Mr. 
Blindman.  Then  said  Mr.  Nogood,  'Away  with 
such  a  fellow  from  the  earth.'  'Ay,'  said  Mr. 
Malice,  '  for  I  hate  the  very  looks  of  him.'  Then 
said  Mr.  Love-lust,  '  I  never  could  endure  him.' 
'  Nor  I,'  said  Mr.  Live-loose,  '  for  he  would  be 
always  condemning  my  way.'  '  Hang  him,  hang 
him,'  cried  Mr.  Heady.  'A  sorry  scrub,'  said  Mr, 
Highmind.  '  My  heart  riseth  against  him,'  said 
Mr,   Enmity.     'He   is   a  rogue,'   said    Mr.  Liar, 


96  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

'  Hanging  is  too  good  for  him,'  said  Mr.  Cruelty. 
'  Let  us  dispatch  him  out  of  the  way,'  said  Mr. 
Hate-light.  Then  said  Mr.  Implacable,  '  Might  I 
have  all  the  world  given  me,  I  could  not  be  recon- 
ciled to  him.'  So  they  brought  Faithful  out,  and 
scourged  him,  and  buffeted  him,  and  lanced  his 
flesh  with  knives,  and  stoned  him,  and  at  last 
burned  him  to  ashes  at  the  stake."  But  was  that 
the  end  of  Faithful?  No.  You  feel  his  power, 
and  so  do  I.  His  martyrdom  crowned  him  with 
an  undying  influence.  Thus  it  is  :  straightforward, 
uncompromising,  heroic  speech  and  act  are  the 
grandest  things  in  the  universe.  Let  a  man  do 
right  with  such  earnestness  that  he  counts  his  life 
of  but  little  value,  and  his  example  will  become 
well-nigh  omnipotent. 

But  let  me  come  back  more  closely  to  my  point. 
I  am  speaking  of  the  abounding  falsities  in  human 
life  which  call  for  the  rebuke  of  genuine,  living, 
and  straightforward  speech. 

Tliere  are  falsities  of  speech.  "  Evil  "  is  called 
"good,"  and  "good"  is  called  "evil,"  notwith- 
standing God  has  pronounced  a  woe  against  such 
an  interchange  of  names.  Does  a  man  show  deep 
feeling  in  a  reform  or  in  a  righteous  cause,  men 
stab  him  by  calling  him  morbid,  histrionic,  hyster- 
ical, lachrymose.  The  great  sin  of  speech  is  the 
using  of  misnomers  in  describing  sin.  False  names 
transfigure  sin  and  conceal  its  deadly  essence. 
They  popularize  sin.     The  use  of  euphemisms  in 


SPEECH  AND  LIFE.  97 

characterizing  sin  thrones  sin  and  crowns  sin.  It 
is  all  wrong,  and  should  be  denounced.  Permit 
me  to  give  you  one  concrete  case  illustrative  of  this 
evil — a  case  in  which  the  sin  of  bribery  is  treated 
in  a  jocose,  euphemistic  way.  In  a  legislature  of 
one  of  our  largest  Eastern  States,  a  member  arose 
and  said,  "  Gentlemen  of  the  legislature,  a  fellow- 
member  yesterday  came  and  asked  me  to  cast  my 
vote  in  favor  of  the  measure  we  have  just  discussed, 
and  as  an  inducement  he  offered  me  five  hundred 
reasons  in  favor  of  casting  my  vote  as  he  dictated." 
The  house  became  at  once  uproarious  over  these 
pleasing  words.  But  what  did  that  senator  do? 
He  degraded  human  language.  He  played  with 
the  most  deadly  fire  that  blazes  in  human  society. 
He  painted  a  hideous  sin  with  attractive  colors. 
He  wrapped  a  rainbow  around  a  fatal  bolt  from  the 
storm-center  of  hell.  He  took  the  highest  word 
in  our  language,  "reason"  that  word  which  signi- 
fies the  divinely  given  power  of  discrimination  and 
choice,  and  degraded  it  into  a  synonym  of  that 
foul  word  "bribery."  When  the  only  words  which 
we  have  to  designate  the  personification  of  noble- 
ness, manliness,  courtesy,  truth,  uprightness,  pur- 
ity, honesty,  are  systematically  applied  to  all  that 
is  contemptible  and  vile,  who  can  doubt  that  these 
high  qualities  themselves  will  ultimately  share  in 
the  debasement  to  which  their  proper  names  are 
subjected  ?  Who  does  not  see  how  vast  a  differ- 
ence it  must  make  in  our  estimate  of  any  species 


98  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

of  wickedness,  whether  we  are  wont  to  designate 
it,  or  to  hear  it  designated,  by  a  word  which  brings 
out  its  hatefulness,  or  by  a  word  which  palliates  it 
and  glosses  it.  It  is  an  impressive  fact,  noticed  by 
all  moralists,  that  indulgence  in  verbal  vice  speedily 
leads  to  corresponding  vice  in  conduct.  Christians, 
call  things  by  their  right  names.  Right  wording 
leads  to  right  thinking,  and  right  thinking  leads  to 
right  living. 

In  speaking  of  the  abounding  falsities  of  life,  we 
must  not  overlook  the  falsities  of  trade.  Trade  is 
a  wide  field  demanding  truth.  Untruth  disinte- 
grates and  enfeebles  the  affairs  of  business.  No 
field  demands  truth  more,  because  in  no  field  are 
there  so  many  false  ways  followed  and  so  many 
false  things  tolerated.  Here  is  where  you  find 
trick,  and  fraud,  and  insincerity,  and  dishonesty, 
and  untruthfulness,  and  adulterations,  and  false 
appearances,  and  sly  duplicities.  Here  you  find 
organized  dishonesty,  and  structural  lies,  and 
wholesale  robbery.  Here  you  find  everything  but 
truth  in  the  inward  parts.  Third-class  articles  bear 
first-class  brands.  There  is  an  element  of  fraud 
running  through  almost  everything  that  is  offered 
for  sale.  The  colors  are  bright,  the  surface  is  good, 
that  people  may  be  deceived  into  the  belief  that 
the  entire  article  is  good.  Food  is  adulterated, 
and  so  is  medicine.  The  anvil  has  learned  to  lie, 
and  so  has  the  loom.  Silk,  wool,  cotton,  hemp, 
flour,  sugar,  coffee,  milk,  are  all  of  them  liars.      But 


SPEECH  AND  LIFE. 


99 


what  are  the  people  who  make  them  what  they 
are  ?  What  astonishes  me  is  this :  sometimes  I 
find  men  who  stand  high  in  the  church,  and  who 
think  they  are  religious  and  acceptable  to  God  and 
eminently  spiritual,  and  who  talk  of  the  indwelling 
Spirit,  and  who  delight  in  sweet  reveries  upon 
heaven,  and  who  go  up  like  a  sky-rocket  in  prayer- 
meeting  and  in  missionary- meeting,  but  who,  when 
scrutinized  in  their  business  life,  amid  the  rivalries 
and  the  push  of  trade,  are  found  to  have  organized 
into  the  very  thread  and  fabric  of  their  career,  indi- 
rections, equivocations,  smartness,  and  bounce,  and 
an  agility  in  turning  sharp  corners  that  always  bring 
them  out  best  in  a  bargain.  They  are  hypocrites. 
I  am  not  so  sure  about  that.  They  are  perfectly 
sincere  in  prayer-meeting,  and  in  their  aspirations 
in  church,  and  in  their  preferences  for  the  good 
things  of  heaven.  No,  they  are  not  hypocrites. 
Their  natures  respond  to  the  influences  under  which 
they  are ;  that  is  not  hypocrisy.  The  difference 
between  them  in  church  and  in  the  store  is  this : 
they  are  under  different  influences  in  the  different 
places.  The  enunciation  of  gospel  principles  in 
church  acts  upon  them  differently  from  the  press- 
ure of  business  rivalries  in  the  store,  that  is  all. 
What  they  need  is  to  keep  themselves  always 
under  the  voice  of  gospel  principles.  They  re- 
spond to  these  when  they  are  under  these ;  their 
natures  are  true  enough  for  that ;  it  is  their  duty, 
therefore,  to  keep  themselves  under  these,  and  thus 


ICO  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

make  their  life  in  the  church  and  in  the  store 
match.  There  is  large  room  in  business  for  men 
of  truth;  for  "yea-men"  and  ''nay-men."  They 
can  build  business  upon  a  permanent  basis.  They 
can  protect  it  against  panic.  They  can  inspire  a 
confidence  which  will  make  money  and  property 
safe.  They  can  make  business  a  school  of  high 
morals  in  which  the  finest  type  of  character  shall 
be  developed. 

But  I  must  speak  now  of  the  way  of  reaching 
truthfulness  in  life  and  straightforwardness  of 
speech. 

i .  These  are  readied  first  by  great  care  in  the 
selection  and  use  of  words. 

Do  we  realize  the  power  of  words?  Do  we 
realize  what  they  represent?  They  represent  us. 
Our  words  are  as  much  our  own  as  our  thoughts 
are.  They  are  the  incarnation  of  our  thoughts, 
just  as  our  body  is  the  incarnation  of  our  soul.  If 
you  change  our  words,  you  change  our  thought. 
Now,  if  we  are  to  represent  ourselves  correctly,  we 
must  see  to  it  that  we  choose  correct  words.  We 
can  make  words  do  whatever  we  wish;  we  should 
wish  them  to  do  what  is  square  and  upright  and 
edifying.  Words  are  the  armory  of  the  human 
mind.  I  have  seen  in  the  United  States  arsenal 
the  great  cannon-balls  piled  up  in  large  pyramids. 
Piled  up  in  that  way  they  are  harmless;  but  put 
them  before  the  powder  in  the  bore  of  the  massive 
gun,  and  they  become  thunderbolts.  Words  in  the 
dictionary,  tiered  and  piled  up  in  rows,  are  harm- 


SPEECH  AND  LIFE.  IOI 

less ;  but  when  they  receive  the  vitalizing  touch 
of  genius,  they  become  endowed  with  tremendous 
energy,  and  leap  with  life.  Let  them  be  used  by 
the  mighty  enginery  of  thought — i.e.,  by  the  brain 
of  a  Webster,  or  a  Phillips,  or  a  Bright,  or  a  Glad- 
stone,— and  they  become  irresistible  arguments, 
which  establish  national  causes  and  give  eternal  life 
to  great  humanitarian  movements.  Coming  from 
the  lips  of  a  master-spirit,  and  instinct  with  his  in- 
dividuality, they  carry  in  them  the  power  of  the 
whole  man. 

If  I  were  to  throw  out  a  thought  with  regard  to 
the  character  of  the  words  which  we  should  use,  I 
should  give  utterance  to  that  thought  suggested 
by  the  text,  viz.,  use  the  simplest  words — words 
which  are  sunbeams  in  human  speech ;  words  of 
the  <fj/ea  "  and  "nay  "  order.  You  cannot  equivo- 
cate with  such  words.  You  have  got  to  tell  the 
truth,  or  else  lie  out  and  out.  These  are  the  words 
which  the  strongest  writers  use.  Books  which 
deal  in  monosyllabics  are  immortal.  The  grand 
and  tender  passages  in  the  English  Bible  are  those 
which  are  couched  almost  entirely  in  words  of  one 
syllable — the  twenty-third  Psalm,  David's  lament 
over  Saul  and  Jonathan,  the  Gospel  according  to 
John,  are  instances.  The  finest  sentence  ever  ut- 
tered in  human  language  is  said  to  be  that  which 
refers  to  the  creation  of  light :  "And  God  said,  Let 
tJiere  be  light ;  and  there  was  light."  But  every 
word  in  this  noted  sentence  is  a  single  syllable.  It 
is  with  words  as  it  is  with  sunbeams  :  the  more  they 


102  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

are  condensed  the  deeper  they  burn.  I  call  that 
strong  speech  in  which  small  words  form  not  only 
the  bolts  and  hinges  and  pins,  but  form  also  the 
chief  material  in  the  structure  of  verse  or  para- 
graph. I  do  not  know  that  I  can  better  give  you 
my  idea  of  the  strength  and  value  of  small  words 
than  by  quoting  a  little  poem  translated  from  the 
German  and  published  lately  in  The  New  York 
School  Journal.  It  is  unique  in  its  way,  and  worth 
its  weight  in  gold.      It  runs  on  this  wise : 

"  Six  little  words  do  claim  me  every  day, 
Shall,  must,  and  can,  with  will  and  ought  and  may. 

"Shall  is  the  law  within  inscribed  by  Heaven, 
The  goal  to  which  I  by  myself  am  driven. 

"Must  is  the  bound  not  to  be  overpast, 
Where  by  the  world  and  nature  I'm  held  fast. 

"Can  is  the  measure  of  my  personal  dower, 
Of  deed  and  art,  science  and  practiced  power. 

"Willis  my  noblest  crown,  my  brightest,  best, 
Freedom's  own  seal  upon  my  soul  imprest. 

"Ought  the  inscription  on  the  seal  set  fair 
On  Freedom's  open  door,  a  bolt  'tis  there. 

"And  lastly  may  'mong  courses  mixed, 
The  vaguely  possible  by  the  moment  fixed. 

"Shall,  must,  and  can,  with  will  and  ought  and  may, 
These  are  the  six  that  claim  me  every  day. 

"  Only  when  God  doth  teach  do  I  know  what  each  day 
I  shall,  I  must,  I  can,  I  will,  I  ought,  I  may." 


SPEECH  AND  LIFE.  IO3 

I  have  one  more  point  to  present.     It  is  this : 
2.   Straightforward  spcccli  and  genuineness  of 
life  must  have  back  of  them  a  gamine  and  straight- 
forward personality. 

My  personality  is  the  source  of  the  life  I  live. 
My  personality  is  the  soul  of  what  I  utter.  Life 
and  speech  only  give  expression  to  personality. 
You  will  never  habitually  speak  the  truth  if  you 
aim  only  to  speak  it ;  you  must  aim  to  live  it. 
You  must  aim  at  being  the  truth.  Truth  must  be 
the  genius  of  your  life.  The  habit  of  speaking  the 
truth  implies  the  whole  cast  of  life.  It  implies  a 
genuine  love  of  truth.  It  means  that  all  the  facul- 
ties of  man  are  symmetrized  around  truth  as  a 
divine  center.  The  whole  world  knows  that  back 
of  speech  is  personality.  The  man  fills  his  own 
words.  Character  is  the  latent  heat  in  words. 
The  man  behind  gives  words  their  momentum  and 
projectile  force.  Only  the  words  of  a  trip-hammer 
man  are  trip-hammers.  Even  Homer,  the  poet  of 
the  past,  sets  forth  this  fact  upon  which  we  are 
dwelling,  viz.,  the  man  is  back  of  his  words.  In 
his  Iliad  he  makes  a  man  named  Thersites  deliver 
a  speech  against  Agamemnon.  The  speech  in  ink 
is  magnificent.  It  is  among  the  finest  things  in 
the  Iliad.  But  it  had  no  effect  upon  the  troops. 
Its  only  effect  was  to  bring  down  the  staff  of 
Ulysses  upon  the  shoulders  of  the  speaker.  What 
was  the  source  of  weakness  ?  The  personality  of 
Thersites.      Pope  says  that  if  Ulysses  had   made 


104  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

that  speech,  the  troops  would  have  sailed  for 
Greece  that  very  night.  In  engineering  it  is  a  rule 
that  a  cannon  should  be  at  least  one  hundred  times 
heavier  than  its  shot.  A  man's  character  should 
be  a  hundred  times  heavier  than  what  he  says. 
Personality  both  originates  our  words  and  gives 
them  their  force. 

Our  inner  life  molds  our  language,  and  is  molded 
by  it  in  turn.  What,  then,  is  our  inner  life?  In 
the  exigencies  of  our  personal  and  social  life  we 
cannot  always  pause  to  weigh  our  words.  For 
the  most  part  with  us  it  is,  "Stand  and  deliver." 
There  is,  then,  for  us  no  resource  but  to  make  our- 
selves whole ;  to  see  to  it  that  our  lives  are  of  such 
substance  that,  whatever  we  may  say  or  do,  it 
shall  be  dominated  by  and  shall  express  the  sum 
of  what  we  are.  We  can  trust  a  true  personality, 
a  full-orbed  self,  but  we  can  trust  nothing  else. 
When  a  man  has  harmonized  all  his  faculties  with 
one  another,  when  he  has  learned  to  love  what  God 
loves,  and  hate  what  God  hates,  then  he  is  like 
some  of  those  majestic  representations  of  full-orbed 
human  nature  which  Michael  Angelo  has  given  us, 
or  which  have  come  to  us  from  the  ancients.  A 
friend  of  mine  wrote  from  Paris,  just  after  he  had 
seen  some  of  these  masterpieces :  "  I  stood  in  the 
basement  of  the  Louvre  the  other  day,  and  there 
was  the  Venus  de  Milo,  and  there,  too,  was  the 
Sleeping  Greek  Slave  in  the  market-place,  the 
marble    creation    of    the    artist.     The    man    was 


SPEECH  AND  LIFE.  105 

majestic  in  quantity  and  quality  of  being.  He 
had  in  him  the  possibility  of  power  unfathomable, 
and  yet  he  was  tender  as  any  drop  of  dew.  A  lion 
was  in  him,  a  dove  also.  Not  only  was  his  mas- 
siveness  overpowering  when  you  took  a  full  view 
of  it,  but  his  tenderness  was  equally  overpowering. 
It  is  easy  to  find  a  man  large  enough,  but  it  is  not 
easy  to  find  a  man  of  fine  quality  and  of  great  size 
combined.  The  Venus,  with  its  womanly  purity 
and  ideality,  was  as  grand  as  the  Greek  Slave.  I 
asked  a  young  man,  somewhat  tempted  by  Parisian 
life,  who  was  looking  at  these  works  of  art :  '  If 
these  people  were  turned  out  to  wander  around 
the  world,  would  they  come  back  dissipated  ? ' 
His  answer  was,  '  They  would  come  back  without 
the  smell  of  fire  upon  them.'  '  How  do  you 
know?'  He  replied,  'Look  at  them!  They  are 
too  great  to  be  tempted.'  '  But,'  said  I,  '  they  are 
to  go  round  the  world;  they  are  to  be  free  from 
family  police ;  they  are  to  be  subjected  to  all 
the  temptation  of  modern  luxury.'  'They  would 
come  back  with  not  a  single  hair  of  their  head 
singed.'  '  How  do  you  know?  '  '  Look  at  them! 
they  are  too  great  to  stoop.'  They  had  in  them  a 
full-orbed  human  nature ;  and  that  young  man,  no 
philosopher,  simply  a  person  of  good  practical  in- 
stinct, felt  that  nothing  can  make  a  man  who  has 
all  the  wheels  moving  in  him  act  against  conscience 
and  reason.  The  whole  make-up  of  such  a  man  is 
against  this."     Yes,    yes.     A  personality   that   is 


106  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

true  in  every  fiber  of  its  being,  full-orbed,  married 
to  the  truth  in  all  its  instincts,  loving  honesty  and 
hating  duplicity — that  is  what  we  need,  and  that 
is  what  we  must  seek  first  and  last,  if  we  mean  to 
be  habitually  genuine  in  life  and  straightforward 
in  speech.  But  how  are  we  to  reach  such  a  per- 
sonality? We  can  reach  it  only  by  coming  into 
contact  with  the  living  Christ,  and  by  keeping  in 
contact  with  the  living  Christ.  We  must  let  Him 
mold  us  after  His  pattern.  We  must  let  Him  in- 
terpret law  for  us.  We  must  let  Him  teach  us 
what  is  right  and  what  is  wrong.  We  must  take 
Him  who  spake  as  man  never  spake,  to  be  our 
teacher  and  our  exemplar.  We  need  Christ,  His 
ethics,  His  Spirit,  His  personality. 


V. 
JOSEPH'S  WAGONS;  OR,  FAITH'S  SYMBOLS. 


V. 


JOSEPH'S   WAGONS;    OR,    FAITH'S 
SYMBOLS. 

"And  when  he  saw  the  wagons  which  Joseph  had  sent  to  cany 
him,  the  spirit  of  Jacob  their  father  revived;  and  Israel  said,  It  is 
enough." — Genesis  45  :  27,  28. 

We  strike  the  story  of  the  patriarch  Jacob  at 
the  point  of  supreme  interest.  His  old  age  was  a 
grand  climax.  It  is  this  grand  climax  which  we 
now  strike.  There  is  no  reason  why  a  man's  old 
age  should  not  be  grand.  Trust  in  God  and  faith- 
fulness in  His  service  are  open  to  all,  and  these 
make  a  grand  old  age.  Gather  the  grand  things 
which  God  crowds  into  old  age  as  these  are  exhib- 
ited by  the  Book !  Mark  the  .light  which  over- 
flows and  irradiates  the  experiences  of  His  people 
in  the  evening-time  of  their  life !  Some  of  the 
sublimest  pictures  in  the  Bible  are  the  pictures  of 
the  old  age  of  God's  heroes.  They  stand  without 
a  parallel.  Look  at  some  of  these.  Caleb,  his 
white  locks  floating  in  the  breeze  as  he  leads  the 
battle  against  the  giants,  and  conquers  the  forces 
which  forty  years  ago  threw  unbelieving  Israel  into 
109 


HO  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

a  disastrous  panic.  Joseph,  at  the  age  of  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty,  the  leader  of  faith  among  his 
brethren,  describing  the  exodus  and  the  coming 
nationality,  and  in  the  full  assurance  of  faith  mak- 
ing request  that  his  coffin  should  guide  the  march 
to  the  Promised  Land.  The  march  was  as  yet 
centuries  in  the  future,  but  centuries  were  no  obsta- 
cles to  his  faith.  Simeon,  feeble  and  tottering,  yet 
present  in  the  Temple,  holding  the  infant  Jesus  in 
his  arms,  and  in  the  triumph  of  a  faith  which 
had  waited  long,  uttering  his  nunc  dimittis,  "  Lord, 
now  lettest  Thou  Thy  servant  depart  in  peace,  for 
mine  eyes  have  seen  Thy  salvation."  John,  the 
disciple  of  love,  an  old  man,  receiving  the  Apoca- 
lypse from  God,  and  looking  into  the  splendors  of 
the  New  Jerusalem,  and  writing  his  grand  book 
which  still  thrills  the  world.  Paul,  the  aged,  front- 
ing eternity,  and  reflecting  in  his  face  the  glories 
of  the  coming  Christ,  and  lifting  his  confident  hand 
to  receive  the  crown,  and  uttering  these  words  in 
which  there  is  no  shadow  of  doubt :  "  I  am  now 
ready  to  be  offered,  and  the  time  of  my  departure 
is  at  hand.  I  have  fought  a  good  fight,  I  have 
finished  my  course,  I  have  kept  the  faith;  hence- 
forth there  is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of  righteous- 
ness." These  are  some  of  the  Bible  pictures  of  the 
old  age  of  God's  heroes.  As  pictures  from  human 
history  they  are  unsurpassed  and  unsurpassable. 

Among  these  pictures  we  must  hang  the  picture 
of  the  patriarch,  Jacob.      His  trials  of  life  are  now 


JOSEPH'S    WAGONS.  Ill 

over,  and  from  this  point  on  all  is  joy  and  peace. 
In  his  joy  we  forget  his  former  griefs  and  sorrows. 
His  life  might  be  likened  to  one  of  the  natural 
days  through  which  we  pass.  The  day  opens  with 
an  overcast  sky.  Great  storm-clouds  blot  out  of 
view  the  rising  sun.  As  the  day  deepens  toward 
noon,  these  pour  forth  their  tempestuous  contents. 
But  when  the  evening  comes,  they  are  rent  asun- 
der and  broken  in  pieces,  in  order  that  there  may 
be  a  glorious  sunset.  They  even  lend  their  vapory 
wreaths  to  clothe  the  evening  with  gorgeous  ap- 
parel. They  transmute  the  bright  sunlight  into 
beautiful  colors.  In  the  rapture  of  such  an  even- 
ing we  forget  the  lowering  of  the  morning  and 
the  thunderstorm  of  midday.  His  life  might  be 
likened  to  a  climb  up  the  mountain.  There  is  a 
weariness  in  the  climb.  It  is  a  struggle  to  force 
one's  way  through  the  brush.  Courage  and  vent- 
ure are  tested  in  scaling  the  steeps  and  in  making 
the  narrow  ledges.  We  reach  the  summit  through 
exhaustion  and  soreness,  but  then  there  is  the 
grand  and  sudden  burst  of  sublime  view,  and  the 
arduousness  of  the  climb  is  completely  forgotten. 
The  104th  Psalm,  which  stirs  us  to  praise  as  we 
read  it  in  the  cold  type  of  the  printed  page,  is  be- 
fore us  in  life-form,  hymning  itself  up  to  heaven. 
Chained  by  its  rapture,  we  catch  ourselves  instinct- 
ively taking  up  its  opening  words  and  crying, 
"Bless  the  Lord,  O  my  soul."  "O  Lord,  how 
manifold  are  Thy   works!    in   wisdom  hast  Thou 


112  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

made  them  all :  the  earth  is  full  of  Thy  riches." 
When  we  come  into  the  evening  of  Jacob's  life, 
such  is  the  golden  twilight,  such  the  bright  vision 
and  outlook  from  the  mountain  of  his  old  age,  that 
we  forget  the  past  altogether  in  our  occupancy 
with  the  delights  of  the  present. 

The  one  story  which  we  especially  take  from  the 
biography  of  Jacob's  grand  old  age  to-day  is  the 
story  of  The  Wagons,  which  the  long-lost  Joseph 
sent  from  Egypt  to  Canaan  to  carry  his  father 
from  the  land  of  famine  to  the  land  of  plenty. 

Let  us  put  the  story  before  us.  It  opens  with 
the  aged  Jacob  sitting  at  the  tent-door  anxiously 
looking  Egyptward.  These  sad  words  are  still  in 
his  heart :  "  Joseph  is  not,  Simeon  is  not,  and  ye 
will  take  Benjamin  away ;  all  these  things  are 
against  me."  All  the  boys  of  the  family  are  down 
in  Egypt,  for  they  have  taken  Benjamin  away. 
The  patriarch  is  alone.  He  sits  at  the  tent-door 
awaiting  the  return  of  his  sons.  He  is  praying  for 
their  safety,  and  especially  for  the  safety  of  Benja- 
min, Rachel's  boy.  In  the  dim  distance  he  catches 
sight  of  a  cloud  of  dust  which  rises  in  the  air. 
This  brings  him  at  once  to  his  feet,  that  he  may 
peer  through  the  distance.  His  heart  says,  "  There 
are  my  sons,  and  God  be  praised."  But  it  imme- 
diately asks,  "Are  they  all  there?"  As  he  talks 
with  himself,  the  company  comes  within  full  sight, 
so  that  he  can  discern  their  personal  outlines. 
Then  he  begins  to  count,  "  One,  two,  three,  four, 


JOSEPH'S    WAGONS.  113 

five,  six,  seven,  eight,  nine.  Nine  ?  Are  there 
only  nine?  Ah,  then,  my  dark  foreboding  has 
become  a  reality.  Mischief  has  befallen  Benjamin 
by  the  way.  I  should  never  have  allowed  him  to 
go."  These  words  no  sooner  fall  from  his  lips  than 
he  sees  the  form  of  a  tenth  person,  and  his  soul 
cries,  "  Benjamin  is  safe,  God  be  doubly  praised." 
Not  only  does  a  tenth  man  come  into  sight,  but  an 
eleventh  man  tomes  into  sight.  And  he  cries, 
"  They  are  ALL  there !  Simeon  has  been  set  free ! 
They  are  all  there!  Blessed  be  God,  who  hath 
not  turned  my  prayer  from  Him,  nor  His  mercy 
from  me."  What  a  heart-relief  for  Jacob!  It  is 
the  sun  flashing  though  the  black  cloud  which  he 
saw  above  his  head,  and  from  which  he  expected 
only  the  deadly  storm. 

But  wait!  Jacob  sees,  beyond  his  sons,  another 
cloud  of  dust  rising  in  the  air,  and  it  betokens  the 
approach  of  another  company.  What  can  that  be  ? 
Presently  he  sees,  to  his  consternation,  that  it  is  a 
company  of  Egyptians  riding  in  Egyptian  chariots. 
Is  it  a  pursuit?  Does  it  mean  that  the  might  of 
Egypt  is  hurled  against  his  little  home?  Is  the 
return  of  his  sons  to  end,  not  in  joy,  but  in  further 
and  worse  sorrow?  Who  can  tell  the  anxious 
questions  that  filled  the  heart  of  the  patriarch  from 
the  time  he  discerned  the  Egyptian  wagons  until 
his  sons  reached  him  and  explained  all? 

Mark  the  meeting  between  the  sons  and  the 
father.     See  the  troubled  face  of  Jacob  as  it  throws 


114  0UR  BEST  MOODS. 

a  whole  volume  of  questions  at  his  sons,  even  be- 
fore his  lips  have  time  to  frame  the  one  question 
of  all  questions,  "  What  does  this  mean?  Tell  me 
the  worst  at  once."  Mark  the  faces  of  his  sons, 
which  present  a  striking  contrast  to  the  face  of  the 
inquiring  father.  Benjamin's  is  all  smiles  and  joy. 
Reuben's  is  the  picture  of  contentment  and  peace ; 
and  the  faces  of  the  others  are  full  of  hidden  things 
to  be  revealed. 

The  first  thing  that  gave  Jacob  relief  was  the 
happy  faces  of  his  returning  sons.  His  sons  were 
different  men  from  what  they  were  when  they 
returned  from  Egypt  the  first  time.  Scarce  had 
he  gotten  relief  from  a  look  into  their  happy  faces, 
when  he  was  subjected  to  a  shock  of  joy,  as  his 
sons  simultaneously  told  him  the  whole  story  of 
their  glad  faces  in  this  one  sentence :  "  Joseph  is 
yet  alive,  and  is  governor  over  all  the  land  of 
Egypt."  Do  you  want  a  picture  of  sudden  sur- 
prise ?  You  have  it  here.  Do  you  want  to  see  a 
human  heart  leap  from  fear  and  grief  into  happy 
assurance  and  joy  ?  You  can  see  it  here.  Do  you 
want  to  see  how  the  soul  can  paint  for  itself  a  dark 
present  and  a  black  future,  while  the  real  facts 
warrant  a  picture  as  bright  as  the  sun?  You  can 
see  that  here.  The  absence  of  Joseph  and  Simeon 
and  Benjamin,  which  was  so  lamented  by  Jacob, 
was  working  out  a  magnificent  destiny  for  the 
household  of  Jacob.  We  can  believe  the  narrative 
when  it  tells  us  that  the  sudden  declaration  of  the 


JOSEPH'S    WAGONS.  115 

sons  of  Jacob  caused  their  father's  heart  to  faint, 
for  he  believed  them  not.  "Joseph  is  yet  alive!" 
The  very  joy  wrapped  up  in  the  assertion  is  so 
great  that  it  hinders  faith.  "  Governor  over  all  the 
land  of  Egypt."  Methinks  I  hear  Jacob  talk  with 
himself  and  say,  "If  he  were  alive,  by  what  means 
could  my  shepherd  boy  rise  to  the  highest  seat  of 
government  in  that  great  land?  Ah,  these,  my 
sons,  are  too  cruel  in  their  treatment  of  me.  They 
have  entered  into  another  wicked  plot.  If  Joseph 
were  alive,  he  would  be  here  himself."  It  was 
natural  for  Jacob  to  be  incredulous  at  first,  and  to 
hold  on  to  his  incredulity  until  he  received  some 
evidence  from  Joseph  himself.  Remember  what 
he  had  to  argue  down  before  he  could  believe. 
He  felt  that  he  had  irresistible  presumptive  evi- 
dence that  Joseph  had  been  torn  to  pieces  by  wild 
beasts.  He  had  to  argue  that  down.  He  had 
in  his  possession  the  blood-stained  coat,  and  he 
brought  it  out  and  held  it  up  before  his  sons.  He 
had  to  contradict  the  coat  and  charge  it  with  black 
falsehood.  He  had  to  turn  back  the  whole  tide 
and  current  of  his  feelings  from  that  dismal  day 
when  he  accepted  the  account  of  Joseph's  death 
as  a  fact.  He  had  to  give  up  the  rest  of  acquies- 
cence for  the  restlessness  of  a  revived  hope.  He 
had  to  unsettle  everything. 

The  incredulity  of  Jacob  did  not  strike  his 
sons  as  strange.  They  accepted  it  as  a  matter  of 
course,  and  began  to  persuade  him,     They  told 


Il6  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

him  all  that  they  had  seen,  and  all  that  Joseph  had 
said.  They  gave  him  every  confirming  detail. 
They  pointed  to  the  changes  of  the  costly  raiment, 
and  the  full  provision,  and  to  the  many  rich  gifts. 
They  made  these  material  things  talk  and  bear 
testimony.  They  took  him  out  to  look  at  the 
wago)is  with  their  Egyptian  drivers,  and  told  him 
their  purpose,  and  read  to  him  the  invitation  of 
Joseph  embodied  in  them.  That  was  a  master- 
stroke ;  for  when  he  saw  the  wagons  his  heart 
revived,  his  doubts  vanished,  and  his  faith  leaped 
into  full  growth.  The  wagons  tvere  symbols  to  his 
faith,  and  spake  to  him  as  nothing  else  could  speak. 
When  he  heard  the  story  which  the  wagons  told, 
he  believed  all  that  his  sons  declared. 

But  why  should  these  sons  be  believed  because 
of  the  wagons?  Jacob  once  believed  them  when 
they  made  Joseph's  coat  speak ;  what  assurance 
was  there  that  they  had  put  the  voice  of  truth  into 
the  wagons?  There  was  a  vast  difference  between 
the  coat  and  the  wagons.  They  could  control  the 
coat,  but  they  could  not  control  the  wagons. 
These  belonged  to  royalty,  and  only  some  one  in 
the  royal  palace,  some  one  connected  with  the 
throne  of  Egypt,  could  send  them.  But  who  in 
all  the  world,  outside  of  these  eleven  sons,  would 
have  enough  interest  in  this  lame  old  shepherd  to 
send  for  him,  and  to  bestow  such  royal  gifts  upon 
him,  except  one,  and  that  one  Joseph  ?  Joseph's 
love  was  in  the  wagons,  and  the  wagons  as  his 


JOSEPH'S    WAGONS.  \lj 

chosen  symbols  of  communication  with  Jacob  spake 
to  the  father's  heart.  Their  message  brought  a 
glow  of  joy  into  his  faded  cheek,  and  infused  a 
new  elasticity  into  every  limb,  and  breathed  vigor 
and  vitality  into  all  his  powers.  Old  and  weary 
as  he  was,  he  at  once  determined  to  go  and  see  his 
son.  His  new  faith  gave  him  a  new  life.  By 
using  the  wagons  he  saw  Joseph  wearing  the 
crown  of  an  unsullied  manhood  as  well  as  the  ring 
of  royal  favor,  and  the  gray  hairs  which  he  said 
would  be  brought  with  sorrow  to  the  grave  fell  in 
joy  upon  the  neck  of  the  one  for  whom  he  had 
mourned  until  grief  had  whitened  them. 

As  we  look  at  the  effect  which  the  glad  mes- 
sage, "Joseph  is  yet  alive,"  had  upon  Jacob,  we 
see  the  wisdom  of  Joseph  in  the  way  he  dealt  with 
his  father.  One  would  naturally  say,  "  Now  that 
Joseph  knows  everything,  why  not  go  himself,  and 
see  his  father,  and  bring  him  to  Egypt?  " 

If  the  simple  words,  "Joseph  is  yet  alive," 
caused  such  a  shock,  and  set  the  tide  of  life  rolling- 
backward  upon  his  heart  until  he  swooned,  what 
think  ye  would  have  been  the  shock  had  Joseph 
stepped  unexpectedly  into  his  father's  presence? 
Do  you  not  know  that  joy  has  the  power  to  kill, 
just  as  grief  has?  The  daily  press  a  few  years  ago 
told  this  story :  A  young  man  left  his  fatherland 
and  sailed  from  Germany  to  America.  He  left 
behind  him  the  betrothed  of  his  heart,  with  the 
promise  that  he  would  send  for  her  as  soon  as  his 


I  1 8  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

gains  warranted.  Manfully  he  wrought  his  way 
up  the  hill  of  fortune,  and  faithfully  he  kept  his 
promise.  His  affianced  landed  safely  in  New 
York,  and  sent  a  telegram  to  Chicago  announcing 
the  time  the  train  which  bore  her  was  due.  The 
engine  came  thundering  into  the  Union  Station, 
and  the  two  met,  and  spake  each  other's  name, 
"  Frederick,"  "  Catherine."  It  was  a  lover's  meet- 
ing, full  of  romance  from  real  life.  It  was  a 
moment  of  grateful  joy.  The  greeting  given,  the 
affianced  husband  gently  sought  to  disengage  him- 
self from  the  clasped  hands  which  were  around  his 
broad  and  manly  shoulders.  But  as  he  did  so,  he 
found  his  betrothed,  in  his  arms,  dead.  She  died 
from  very  joy.  The  method  which  Joseph  adopted 
was  such  as  would  prevent  the  shock  of  joy  being 
too  great.  The  glad  tidings  were  gradually  given, 
and  the  meeting  of  great  joy  was  gradually  brought 
about. 

As  we  read  how  the  wagons  of  Joseph  wrought 
conviction  in  Jacob,  and  gave  him  strong,  active, 
vigorous  faith,  we  see  the  value  of  those  things 
which  may  be  called  outward  evidences.  We  see 
the  value  of  faitlis  symbols.  The  wagons  were 
outward  evidences  ;  they  were  a  separate  and  dis- 
tinct testimony  to  the  reality  of  what  the  sons 
of  Jacob  declared.  They  confirmed  the  words  of 
these  sons.  They  were  outside  arguments  proving 
the  things  which  the  sons  asked  their  father  to 
believe.     Has  God  given   us  outside  arguments, 


JOSEPH'S    WAGONS.  II9 

outside  evidences?  Yes,  we  have  outside  evi- 
dences to  Christianity  and  to  the  doctrines  of  the 
gospel  which  we  are  asked  to  believe.  Let  us 
value  these.  Do  you  ask  me  to  illustrate  ?  I  will 
try. 

For  example,  we  are  asked  to  believe  in  the 
exercise  of  God's  fatherly  care  over  us.  Well,  we 
accept  of  this  doctrine  because  of  what  God  is  in 
Himself,  and  because  of  what  He  has.  He  is  the 
author  of  fatherhood,  therefore  He  has  a  father's 
heart.  While  we  accept  of  this  doctrine  of  God's 
fatherly  care  over  us  because  of  what  God  is  and 
has,  is  there  not  an  external  argument  proving  His 
care  over  us — an  argument  which  all  can  see  ? 
There  is.  He  sends  wagons  to  us  and  gives  us 
gifts.  The  sun  rolling  in  its  orbit  is  His  wagon, 
and  out  from  this  wagon  there  is  tossed  upon  earth 
golden  grain  for  bread,  brilliant  flowers  for  beauty, 
and  all  manner  of  luscious  fruit  for  luxury.  God's 
chariot  of  fire,  which  rides  the  sky,  is  laden  with 
gifts  for  all  men,  and  these  gifts  which  keep  the 
earth  from  famine  ought  to  speak  to  the  human 
race  of  His  love,  just  as  Joseph's  laden  wagons 
spake  to  Jacob.  Living  in  the  midst  of  these  gifts, 
we  ought  to  be  able  to  believe  in  the  fatherhood 
of  God ;  and  believing  the  fatherhood  of  God  in 
the  midst  of  these  gifts,  we  ought  not  to  be  able 
to  doubt  His  fatherhood  while  in  the  midst  of  other 
things. 

For  example,  we  are  asked  to  believe   in   the 


120  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

Christian  religion.  We  accept  the  Christian  relig- 
ion because  of  what  it  is  in  itself.  It  is  full  of 
purity  and  love  and  heavenlikeness.  While  we 
accept  of  it  for  what  it  is  in  itself,  still,  are  there 
not  external  evidences?  Yes.  I  find  external 
evidences.  The  Christian  Church  is  an  external 
evidence,  bearing  testimony  to  Christianity.  So 
is  the  Lord's  day,  and  so  is  the  Lord's  Supper. 
Here  are  institutions  before  our  eyes ;  they  are 
undeniable  things,  and  they  challenge  an  explana- 
tion. Whence  came  they  ?  Where  did  they  orig- 
inate? What  do  they  mean?  What  is  their 
purpose  ?  To  what  do  they  testify  ?  Answer 
these  questions  truthfully ;  explain  these  institu- 
tions as  you  explain  other  institutions,  and  you 
will  receive  from  them  the  confirmation  of  the 
Christian  religion.  They  bear  the  same  testimony 
to  the  Christian  religion  that  the  Day  of  Independ- 
ence bears  to  the  American  Republic;  and  they 
are  just  as  worthy  of  credence.  They  all  center 
in  Christ,  and  proclaim  the  gospel  of  Christ.  They 
are  the  three  great  external  evidences  of  our  relig- 
ion. They  are  God's  wagons  bringing  men  the 
blessings  of  sweet  rest,  holy  service,  divine  fellow- 
ship, transforming  communion,  ennobling  scenes, 
and  heart-melting  memorials.  As  wagons  freighted 
with  rich  spiritual  gifts,  they  are  auxiliaries  to 
faith,  arguing  with  corroborating  and  convincing 
power  to  all  who  will  listen  to  them. 

Let  us,   during  this   sacramental   hour,  confine 


JOSEPH'S    WAGONS.  121 

our  thoughts  altogether  to  one  of  these  great  aux- 
iliaries of  faith.  Let  us  speak  solely  of  the  Lord's 
Supper.  As  we  do  so,  let  us  make  the  wagons  of 
Joseph  suggest  the  thoughts  that  should  be  upper- 
most in  our  souls  during  this  holy  convocation. 
In  the  sacramental  plate  and  cup  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  our  faith  has  that  which  Jacob's  faith  had 
in  the  wagons  from  Egypt.  Joseph's  wagons  were 
symbols  to  Jacob's  faith ;  the  bread  and  the  wine 
in  the  gospel  feast  are  symbols  to  our  faith.  They 
are  God's  sacramental  wagons  that  have  come  roll- 
ing down  the  centuries,  bearing  precious  gifts  and 
precious  messages  from  God  to  us. 

Let  us  learn  from  Joseph's  wagons  how  to  inter- 
pret God's  wagons,  that  our  faith  may  be  strength- 
ened and  our  spirits  revived.  It  is  the  renewal 
and  edification  of  our  faith  which  we  seek  in  God's 
house  and  in  the  banqueting-chamber  of  His  love. 
The  cry  of  our  soul  is,  "  Lord,  we  believe ;  help 
Thou  our  unbelief." 

There  is  a  twofold  way  of  looking  at  faith's 
symbols :  they  can  be  looked  at  as  the  voice  of 
God  speaking  to  the  soul  of  man,  or  they  can  be 
looked  at  as  the  voice  of  the  soul  speaking  to  God. 
We  propose  at  this  time  to  look  at  them  solely  as 
the  voice  of  God. 

I  feel  impelled  to  say,  at  this  point,  that  if  we 
are  to  be  benefited  to-day  by  the  symbolism  of  the 
Lord's  Supper,  we  must  recognize  the  bread  and 
the  wine  as  symbols :    they  are  not  common  bread 


122  OUR   BEST  MOODS. 

and  wine.  They  are  sacramental  bread  and  wine. 
Let  us  grasp  this  fact,  and  then  let  us  read  them 
as  Jacob  read  the  wagons  from  Egypt.  The 
wagons  were  nothing  in  themselves ;  it  was  their 
association  that  gave  them  power.  It  is  the  asso- 
ciation of  the  bread  and  wane  with  Christ  that 
gives  them  power  as  auxiliaries  of  faith.  We  must 
remember  this,  else  the  sacramental  plate  and  cup 
will  be  empty  wagons  to  our  souls.  Let  us  not 
treat  the  Lord's  Supper  of  the  New  Testament  as 
some  treat  the  symbolic  altar  of  sacrifice  of  the 
Old  Testament.  The  gospel  of  the  coming  Christ 
is  fully  written  in  the  Old  Testament  altar,  but 
they  deface  the  writing  and  make  the  altar  a  spir- 
itual blank.  They  make  an  empty  enigma  of  it, 
and  rob  themselves  of  the  testimony  of  the  past. 
They  hold  it  up  to  the  contempt  of  an  unbelieving 
world..  One  of  the  aged  Simeons  of  the  Christian 
Church  writes  these  grand  words  with  reference 
to  the  Old  Testament  symbolism :  "A  German 
astronomer,  not  long  ago,  called  my  attention  to 
the  magnificent  distances  and  the  sublime  evolu- 
tions of  the  heavenly  bodies.  Said  he,  '  Up  there 
in  the  December  skies  I  can  see  something  that 
seems  to  me  worthy  of  an  Almighty  God.  But 
when  I  come  back  from  the  stars  to  your  Old 
Testament  story  about  fire  coming  down  from  the 
sky  to  burn  up  the  fragments  of  a  slaughtered 
iamb,  it  seems  very  petty  in  contrast.      I  cannot 


JOSEPH'S    WAGONS.  1 23 

help  asking  myself,  What  can  the  God  of  the  side- 
real universe  have  to  do  with  that  ?  '  True  ;  it  is 
very  petty  till  we  discover  in  the  bleeding  lamb 
upon  the  altars  of  Judea  the  symbol  of  the  Lamb 
of  God  that  was  slain  from  the  foundation  of  the 
world.  It  is  beneath  the  notice  of  the  God  of  the 
stars,  until  we  discern  in  the  blood  of  the  sacrifice 
a  type  of  the  blood  which  was  foreordained  for 
the  remission  of  sin  before  one  star  glistened  in 
the  diadem  of  night.  Take  Christ  out  of  the  Old 
Testament,  and  the  student  of  astronomy  may  well 
scorn  and  scout  the  whole  story.  But  put  Christ 
back  again,  and  the  pages  of  the  Old  Testament 
glow  with  a  magnificence  which  the  Heaven  of 
heavens  cannot  contain." 

To  convert  material  things  into  symbols  and 
memorials  of  great  historical  facts  and  of  eternal 
spiritual  verities  is  to  give  material  things  a  glori- 
ous transfiguration.  It  is  like  turning  the  block 
of  marble  into  a  statue  through  which  genius 
speaks.  Build  the  rough  bowlders  from  the  Jor- 
dan-bed into  a  monumental  pillar,  and  you  make 
each  stone  an  historical  voice  proclaiming  the  won- 
ders of  God.  Make  the  bread  and  wine  symbols 
of  the  broken  body  and  shed  blood  of  the  Christ 
who  died  on  Calvary,  and  you  make  the  common 
things  of  life  proclaim  the  foundation  fact  of  the 
glorious  gospel — this  fact,  viz.,  "  Christ  crucified  is 
the  power  of  God  and  the  wisdom  of  God  to  all 


124 


OUR  BEST  MOODS. 


who  believe."  You  turn  also  a  common  feast  into 
a  banquet  with  God,  and  you  bring  to  earth  the 
fellowship  of  heaven. 

The  sacramental  plate  and  cup,  like  Joseph's 
wagons,  are  symbols  of  faith.  That  is  our  point 
now.  They  speak  to  us  as  the  wagons  spake  to 
Jacob. 

i.  The  wagons  declare  to  Jacob  that  there  is 
somebody  in  Egypt  who  knows  him  and  is  thinking 
of  him.  The  sacramental  enp  and  plate  declare  to 
11  s  that  there  is  somebody  in  heaven  who  knows  ns 
and  is  thinking  of  ns. 

The  wagons  were  expressly  for  Jacob.  Joseph 
could  not  have  spoken  more  distinctly  or  recogniz- 
ably to  Jacob  if  he  had  spoken  to  him  through  the 
telephone  of  the  nineteenth  century.  The  wagons 
annihilated  distance.  In  them  Joseph  thought 
aloud  and  audibly,  and  his  father  heard  his 
thoughts.  As  he  listened  to  the  story  of  the  wag- 
ons his  heart  said  to  him,  "lam  known  in  Egypt ; 
there  is  one  exalted  mind  there  who  is  thinking  of 
me.      He  individualizes  me." 

Are  not  these  the  very  thoughts  which  com- 
municants have  as  they  receive  the  sacramental 
elements?  "This  is  My  body  broken  for  you!" 
What  are  these  words  but  a  personal  address — the 
individualizing  of  each  disciple  upon  the  part  of 
the  Master  of  the  Feast  ?  What  are  these  words 
but  the  recognition  of  the  personality  of  each  ?  It 
is  the  voice  of  a  greater  than  Joseph  calling  us  by 


JOSEPH'S    WAGONS.  1 25 

name  and  saying,  "Jacob,"  "John,"  "  Mary," 
"  Elizabeth,  the  blessings  of  redemption  are  for 
you."  Our  names,  written  on  precious  gems,  are 
on  the  breastplate  and  shoulders  of  our  great 
High-Priest  before  the  throne  of  God.  Christ 
knows  the  name  of  Ananias,  with  whom  Paul 
lodges,  and  the  city  in  which  Ananias  lives,  and 
the  street  upon  which  Ananias  lives,  and  the  house 
in  which  Ananias  lives.  Child  of  God,  whoever 
you  are,  you  are  known  in  heaven,  and  in  the  sac- 
rament of  the  Church  God  sends  you  a  personal 
address,  a  personal  assurance  of  pardon,  and  a  per- 
sonal Christ. 

2.  The  wagons  declare  to  Jacob  that  there  is 
somebody  in  Egypt  who  is  planning  for  his  comfort 
and  making  rich  provision  for  him.  The  sacra- 
mental enp  and  plate  declare  to  ns  that  there  is 
somebody  in  heaven  planning  for  our  comfort  and 
making  a  rich  provision  for  us. 

Joseph's  wagons  and  gifts  were  only  earnests  of 
the  future,  and  as  such  they  gave  Jacob  satisfac- 
tion and  confidence.  The  wagons  were  prophecies 
and  promises.  Because  of  them  Jacob  knew  that 
Goshen,  the  choicest  valley  in  Egypt,  was  sure. 

Is  not  the  Lord's  Supper  an  earnest  to  us  ?  It 
is  a  witness  of  the  love  which  Christ  had  for  us, 
and  which  led  Him  to  the  cross  on  our  behalf. 
But  is  it  not  an  earnest,  a  picture,  of  that  marriage 
supper  of  the  Lamb  of  which  it  is  written,  "  Blessed 
are  they  who  are  bidden  to  the  marriage  supper 


126  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

of  the  Lamb"?  To  the  man  of  discerning  faith, 
the  Lord's  Supper  is  nothing  short  of  the  com- 
munion in  heaven  in  the  form  of  a  prophecy.  Our 
desires  for  greater  fullness  and  greater  degrees  of 
divine  fellowship  are  pledges  and  prophecies  of 
coming  satisfaction,  just  as  the  eye  is  the  pledge 
and  prophecy  of  the  needed  light  and  of  the  world 
of  beauty ;  just  as  one  joint  in  the  physical  man  is 
a  prophecy  of  another  and  complementary  joint. 
God  makes  no  half-joints.  Here  we  have  fore- 
tastes of  that  which  is  beyond,  and,  like  the  Eshcol 
clusters,  these  foretastes  speak  to  us  of  the  full 
vintage  in  the  Promised  Land.  It  is  said  that  voy- 
agers to  beautiful  isles  in  warmer  climes  scent  the 
aroma  of  their  flowers  while  they  are  twenty  and 
thirty  miles  off  at  sea.  Even  so,  it  seems  that  God 
permits  His  people,  while  afar  off  from  heaven,  to 
have  large  foretastes  of  the  glory  to  be  revealed, 
as  their  faith  sails  the  sea  of  life  in  the  ship  of 
Church  ordinances,  whose  prow  is  headed  toward 
the  port  of  Jerusalem  above. 

Overlook  not  the  provision  which  God  has  made 
for  His  people.  He  has  wagons  for  every  spiritual 
Jacob.  No  Jacob  need  go  through  life  footsore 
and  weary.  Every  Jacob  who  walks  and  plods 
until  he  is  exhausted  does  so  because  he  persist- 
ently refuses  to  ride.  The  wagons  of  God  are 
running  along  every  highway  over  which  God  calls 
us  to  travel.  These  are  the  golden-wheeled  char- 
iots of  the  promises.     They  run  hither  and  thither 


JOSEPH'S    WAGONS.  \2J 

all  through  human  life.  Does  God  call  you  to  run 
along  the  pathway  of  orphanage  ?  There  is  a 
golden-wheeled  chariot  running  that  way,  "  I  will 
be  a  father  unto  the  fatherless."  Does  God  call 
you  to  run  along  the  way  of  widowhood?  There 
is  a  golden-wheeled  chariot  running  that  way,  "  I 
will  be  the  husband  of  the  widow."  Does  God 
call  you  to  travel  the  via  dolorosa  ?  There  is  a 
golden-wheeled  chariot  running  that  way,  "  I  will 
be  with  you  in  six  troubles,  and  in  seven  troubles 
I  will  deliver  thee."  Does  your  faith  require  you 
to  run  back  to  the  beginnings  of  Christianity,  that 
you  may  assure  yourselves  of  the  first  principles? 
There  is  a  chariot  which  turns  straight  back  to 
these  first-needed  things — it  is  the  Lord's  Supper. 
Use  this  chariot.  The  wagons  of  God  run  all 
through  human  life.  More  than  this,  the  wagons 
of  God  constantly  run  between  earth  and  heaven. 
The  promises  are  the  wagons  that  run  through 
human  life,  on  every  line  of  experience ;  and  the 
ordinances  of  the  Church,  the  songs  of  the  soul, 
and  the  earnest,  believing  prayers  of  the  heart  are 
the  wagons  that  run  between  heaven  and  earth. 

3.  The  zvagons  declare  to  Jacob  that  there  is 
somebody  in  Egypt  who  loves  him  and  who  cannot 
be  satisfied  without  his  presence.  The  sacramental 
plate  and  cup  declare  to  us  that  there  is  some  one  in 
heaven  who  loves  us,  and  who  cannot  be  satisfied 
without  our  presence. 

Joseph  had  the  palace,  and  the  run  of  the  king- 


128  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

dom,  and  a  home  of  his  own ;  but  there  was  a 
place  in  his  life  which  only  his  father  could  fill. 
It  is  true  that  his  father  was  a  poor  man,  but  the 
nobility  in  the  soul  of  Joseph  scorned  the  idea  of 
making  any  difference  in  the  treatment  of  his  father 
on  account  of  that.  There  are  degenerated  sons 
in  the  nineteenth  century  who  look  upon  their  poor 
parents  as  in  the  way ;  who  are  inordinately  re- 
signed to  Providence  when  they  die,  and  who 
carry  their  principles  of  economy  so  far  as  to  econ- 
omize on  their  coffins ;  but  Joseph's  soul  was  not 
built  out  of  such  spiritual  rubbish.  With  him  it 
was  not  "  Over  the  Hills  to  the  Poorhouse,"  but 
it  was  "  Over  the  Hills  to  the  Palace."  His  loving 
heart  must  have  Jacob  in  Egypt ;  and  with  Jacob 
in  Egypt,  Egypt  becomes  a  new  land  to  him.  It 
was  a  grand  day  when  the  wagons  brought  the  old 
patriarch  to  Egypt,  and  when  the  long-separated 
ones  met,  pronounced  each  other's  name,  looked 
each  other  in  the  face,  and  settled  down  for  a  long 
life  of  communion.  Ere  Jacob  started  to  Egypt 
the  wagons  told  him  of  all  these  joys. 

What  do  the  sacramental  elements  tell  us  ?  Do 
they  not  speak  of  the  love  and  longing  of  God,  in 
Jesus  Christ,  as  these  go  out  toward  His  people? 
The  Christ  who  could  not  go  to  the  Transfiguration 
Mount  alone;  the  Christ  who  could  not  go  to 
Gethsemane  without  taking  with  Him  His  chosen 
disciples ;  even  this  same  Christ  cannot  do  without 


JOSEPH'S   WAGONS.  129 

human  company  in  heaven.  Did  He  not  pray  to 
His  Father  in  the  intercessory  prayer,  "  I  will  that 
they  whom  Thou  hast  given  may  be  with  Me 
where  I  am,  that  they  may  behold  My  glory"? 
He  cannot  even  wait  for  us  to  reach  heaven ;  so 
He  sends  us  the  wagon  of  His  covenant  in  the  form 
of  the  Great  Supper,  that  our  thoughts  and  faith 
and  love  may  ascend  to  Him  now,  and  may  be 
His  now.  It  is  a  great  thought,  and  it  is  full  of 
comfort.  The  heavenly  glory  of  Christ  will  not 
be  perfect,  and  the  heavenly  joy  of  Christ  will 
not  be  full,  and  the  heavenly  love  of  Christ  will 
not  be  satisfied,  and  the  heavenly  company  of 
Christ  will  not  be  complete  until  the  last  of  His 
redeemed  ones  is  safely  gathered  on  high.  Every 
wagon  in,  and  every  saved  soul  brought  home — 
that  is  necessary  for  the  perfection  of  heaven, 
and  for  the  satisfaction  of  God's  infinite  love. 
The  family  of  God,  all  together  with  God,  in  the 
mansion  of  God — that  is  the  reality  of  which  this 
sacramental  feast  is  the  type  and  picture. 

"  One  family,  we  dwell  in  Him, 
One  Church  above,  beneath, 
Though  now  divided  by  the  stream, 
The  narrow  stream  of  death. 

"  One  army  of  the  living  God, 
To  His  command  we  bow ; 
Part  of  the  host  have  crossed  the  flood, 
And  part  are  crossing  now." 


130  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

Brethren,  we  are  in  a  holy  presence  to-day. 
We  are  face  to  face  with  holy  things.  Our  faith 
ought  to  be  vitalized,  deepened,  and  broadened 
through  the  communicated  life  of  our  Christ, 
which  He  sends  us  through  faith's  symbols.  God's 
spiritual  wagons  are  here,  laden  with  spiritual 
gifts.  They  are  weighted  down  with  holy  mes- 
sages, with  a  radiant  gospel,  with  a  pictorial  cross, 
with  promises  that  are  all  gold,  with  portions  from 
the  King's  heavenly  table.  What  is  more  than  all, 
they  bring  the  King  Himself.  Now  that  He  has 
come,  He  will  preside  at  our  feast,  give  us  a  wel- 
come, and  strengthen  us  every  one  for  life.  We 
know  not  what  is  before  us,  but  He  knows,  and 
He  will  impart  to  us  according  to  that  knowledge. 
To-day  we  shall  receive  from  Him  according  to 
our  faith  and  our  desire  and  our  spiritual  relish. 

May  the  Lord  grant  that  our  spirits  may  be  re- 
vived, and  that  our  hearts  may  be  filled  with  new 
impulses  and  new  enterprises.  May  we  go  from 
this  communion  Sabbath  as  Moses  went  from  the 
cleft  of  the  rock  where  God  hid  him,  with  the  vis- 
ion of  God  burning  in  our  souls,  and  with  an  abid- 
ing sense  of  God's  presence.  May  we  go  from  it 
as  Elijah  went  from  Horeb,  carrying  with  us  a 
fresh  faith,  and  an  inward  feeling  of  our  sufficiency 
in  God.  May  we  go  from  it  as  John  went  from 
Patmos,  with  our  minds  filled  with  pictures  of  the 
future,  and  of  the  glories  which  God  has  pro- 
vided for  His  Church  and   His  people,  and,   like 


JOSEPH'S    WAGONS.  131 

John,  may  we  ever  be  able  to  keep  these  glowing 
before  the  eyes  of  the  universe.  May  we  be  so 
filled  to-day  with  God's  own  Spirit  that  we  shall 
be  able  to  use  the  words  of  Jacob  and  say,  "It  is 
enough"     "It  is  enough." 


VI. 

-THE    INDIGNATION  OF  A  FINP  SOUL.' 


VI. 
"THE  INDIGNATION  OF  A  FINE  SOUL." 

"And  I  will  say  to  my  soul,  Soul,  thou  hast  much  goods  laid 
up  for  many  years;  take  thine  ease,  eat,  drink,  and  be  merry." — 
Luke  12 :  19. 

The  parable  which  gives  us  our  text  was  called 
out  by  an  interruption.  It  is  not  one  of  the  log- 
ical links  in  Christ's  sermon ;  it  is  an  interpolation. 
Jesus  was  discoursing  upon  the  trials  of  life,  and 
upon  the  providences  which  overrule  them ;  upon 
the  persecutions  of  the  righteous,  and  upon  the 
indwelling  of  the  Holy  Spirit  which  sustains  the 
righteous  in  the  midst  of  persecutions.  Just  when 
He  reached  this  solemn  part  of  His  sermon  one  of 
His  hearers,  who  was  thinking  of  gold  and  lands 
and  material  possessions,  broke  in  upon  Him  with 
a  matter  wholly  irrelevant :  "  Master,  bid  my 
brother  divide  my  father's  estate  with  me."  So 
incongruous,  so  foreign,  so  sudden  was  the  inter- 
ruption that  the  sermon  was  literally  shattered. 
You  are  shocked  at  the  frivolity  and  carnality  of 
the  man.  You  are  sorry  for  the  broken  sermon. 
But  why  be  shocked  ?    Why  be  sorry  ?     Hundreds 

i35 


I36  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

of  modern  sermons  would  be  shattered  if  modern 
hearers  acted  themselves  out  as  this  man  acted 
himself  out.  If  by  a  spiritual  photography  the 
thoughts  of  our  congregations  could  be  brought 
out  as  plainly  as  the  features  of  our  auditors,  it 
would  be  found  that  men's  brains  in  the  pews  were 
often  teeming  with  incongruous  thoughts. 

We  people  of  the  nineteenth  century  are  not  so 
intensely  sabbatic  that  we  can  pose  as  critics  of  the 
secularity  of  the  people  of  the  first  century.  The 
man  who  interrupted  Jesus  is  duplicated  in  Brook- 
lyn. Last  Sabbath  Mr.  A  met  Mr.  B,  and  because 
it  was  Sabbath  he  began  his  conversation  by  in- 
quiring for  the  state  of  his  soul.  When  Mr.  B  had 
answered  solemnly  and  religiously,  then  both  men 
forgot  all  about  their  souls  and  glided  with  per- 
fect ease  into  a  discussion  of  the  late  election  and 
its  probable  influence  upon  business.  They  had 
election  on  the  brain,  precisely  as  this  man  had  his 
father's  will  on  the  brain.  Human  nature  is  human 
nature. 

While  Christ's  sermon  was  broken  in  twain,  yet 
the  occasion  was  not  lost.  The  Master  used  the 
interruption  as  an  opportunity  for  speaking  this 
noted  parable,  which  exposes  the  fatal  folly  of 
allowing  material  things  to  have  the  supreme  place 
in  human  life.  We  owe  some  of  the  finest  par- 
ables of  our  Lord  to  the  narrowness  and  the  folly 
and  the  sins  of  men.  The  bigotry  of  the  Pharisees 
called   out  the  parables  of  "  The   Lost    Piece  of 


"THE  INDIGNATION  OF  A  FINE  SOUL."     I  37 

Money,"  "  The  Lost  Sheep,"  and  "  The  Lost  Son." 
And  here  the  grasping  character  of  this  unnamed 
man  calls  out  the  parable  of  the  rich  fool. 

We  do  not  like  the  man  of  the  parable,  as  we 
see  him  rub  his  fat  hands,  and  hear  him  chuckle 
with  delight  over  his  harvests,  and  dialogue  with 
himself  complacently,  and  make  the  plans  of  a 
practical  atheist.  We  do  not  like  the  man.  But 
let  us  not  hold  up  our  hands  in  mock  horror  as 
though  the  man  of  the  parable  were  a  caricature 
upon  our  nature,  for  he  is  not.  Christ  was  not 
guilty  of  making  a  coarse  daub  when  He  painted 
this  man.  The  man  of  the  parable  is  a  character 
true  to  life.  Instead  of  giving  way  to  mock  hor- 
ror, let  us  give  ourselves  to  prayer  that  God  may 
save  us  from  translating  the  parable  into  history. 
Better  be  anything  in  the  world  than  this  rich  fool. 
I  do  not  wonder  at  the  burning  words  of  one  of 
England's  greatest  preachers,  in  speaking  to  his 
congregation  upon  this  parable,  in  which  he  con- 
gratulates the  believing  poor  man  in  his  audience 
who  has  a  rich  faith  in  God.  His  words  are  these  : 
"  Do  I  speak  to  any  poor  person  here  ?  My 
brother,  listen.  When  that  cold  east  wind  flutters 
your  rags,  when  it  bites  you  to  the  very  marrow, 
thank  God  for  your  coldness,  and  for  your  empti- 
ness, for  these  things  have  saved  you  from  the 
black  atheism  of  this  rich  fool.  Poverty  is  a  bitter 
thing  on  a  cold  winter  day ;  but  poverty  with  sal- 
vation is  infinitely  better  than  houses  and  barns 


^8  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

filled  to  bursting  and  a  palace  crowded  with  every 
possible  luxury  without  salvation."  The  words  of 
the  minister  which  I  have  quoted  are  hot,  but  they 
are  not  too  hot.  They  scintillate  with  truth,  but 
not  with  exaggeration. 

The  words  of  the  parable  at  which  we  anchor 
our  thoughts  are  the  words  which  the  man  ad- 
dresses to  his  soul  after  he  has  built  his  new  barns 
and  stowed  away  his  harvests,  and  after  he  has 
walked  in  pride  amid  his  abundance  and  super- 
abundance :  "  Soul,  thou  hast  much  goods  laid  up 
for  many  years ;  take  thine  ease,  eat,  drink,  and 
be  merry."  This  is  what  the  man  says  to  the  soul. 
The  question  with  me  is,  What  did  the  soul  say  to 
the  man?  The  soul  has  its  own  thoughts.  The  soul 
has  its  own  rights.  The  soul  has  its  own  ideals. 
I  am  interested  in  the  soul's  reception  of  the  prop- 
osition. How  did  it  feel  and  act?  How  ought  it 
to  feel  and  act  ?  My  fellow-man,  how  would  you 
feel  and  act?  If  the  soul  was  in  touch  with  God, 
a  fine  soul,  a  soul  conscious  of  its  own  wonderful 
possibilities,  of  its  own  nature,  of  its  own  needs, 
and  of  its  own  immortality,  it  received  the  man's 
proposition  with  upriglit  and  downright  indigna- 
tion. The  proposition  created  an  earthquake  in 
the  world  called  man.  The  true  soul's  indignation 
can  be  judged  by  God's  indignation.  God's  indig- 
nation is  expressed  in  the  title  which  He  gives  the 
man  of  the  parable,  "Thou  foot."  A  true  soul  is 
of  kin  with  God,  and  feels  as  God  feels,  and  talks 


"THE  INDIGNATION  OF  A  FINE  SOUW     1 39 

as  God  talks,  and  uses  the  names  which  God  uses 
in  denominating  things  and  persons. 

Taking  for  granted  that  this  soul  was  a  fine  soul, 
let  us  draw  near  and  listen  while  the  man  of  the 
parable  makes  his  proposition,  and  while  the  soul 
responds.  The  conversation  between  them  cannot 
be  otherwise  than  educational. 

The  man  addresses  the  soul :  Soul,  I  have  pur- 
chased a  magnificent  farm,  and  I  have  been  a  dili- 
gent farmer.  I  have  paid  every  dollar  of  indebt- 
edness. I  own  it  out  and  out.  I  have  fully 
stocked  it.  On  it  are  horses  and  kine  and  flocks, 
all  well  conditioned.  I  have  enlarged  everything 
on  a  grand  scale.  The  barns  are  new,  and  the 
storehouses  are  ample.  I  have  plowed  and  sowed 
and  reaped,  and  the  harvest  is  rich  and  superb. 
A  hundredfold  all  around  has  been  the  increase, 
and  the  granaries  contain  substance  for  years  and 
years.  I  am  proud  of  myself,  I  am  proud  of  my 
goods,  I  am  proud  of  my  houses,  I  am  proud  of 
my  farm.  Now,  as  I  am  wedded  to  thee,  I  bring 
all  to  thee ;  join  me  in  a  life  of  wholesale  indul- 
gence, and  freedom  from  care :  "  Soul,  take  thine 
ease;  eat,  drink,  and  be  merry." 

What  does  the  soul  respond?  That  is  the 
question. 

The  soul  responds :  O  man,  thou  meanest  well, 
but  thou  art  ignorant,  thou  art  selfish,  thou  art 
debased  and  lustful,  thou  art  sinful,  thou  art  a  fool. 
The  more  I  think  of  thy  proposition  the  more  I 


I40  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

feel  the  flush  of  shame,  the  more  humiliated  I  am, 
and  the  more  does  downright  indignation  burn 
within  me.  I  protest  against  thy  proposal  with 
every  faculty  of  my  being.  There  is  an  insult  in 
thy  words,  the  insult  of  underestimation  and  non- 
appreciation.  I  am  infinitely  above  barns  and 
storehouses  and  things.  A  soul  would  deteriorate 
if  it  were  doomed  to  do  nothing  but  watch  the 
body  and  munch  corn,  or  gorge  itself  with  luxuries 
and  fill  itself  with  wines.  Away  with  the  life  pro- 
posed ;  it  is  an  abomination  unto  me.  If  I  were 
to  accept  of  it  I  should  soon  find  myself  wedded 
to  a  man  blotched  and  bloated  and  dehumanized 
and  brutalized,  with  low  sensuality  looking  out  of 
every  feature  of  his  face  and  form.  Thou  art  an 
embyro  glutton  and  wine-bibber. 

But  note  you,  I  do  not  decry  the  animal  in  man, 
for,  to  begin  with,  man  is  an  animal.  Whether  we 
take  the  old  idea  of  outright  creation,  or  the  sci- 
entific doctrine  of  evolution — man  is  an  animal. 
Whether  he  was  created  outright  in  a  second,  or 
whether  he  is  the  out-blossoming  of  the  topmost 
twig  of  the  tree  of  life  which  is  millions  of  years 
old — man  is  an  animal.  He  is,  however,  at  the 
top  of  the  animal  world.  The  lowest  type  of  the 
animal  crawls  horizontally  on  the  ground,  or  swims 
horizontally  in  the  waters — man  moves  on  a  per- 
pendicular. To  say  nothing  of  the  development 
of  the  nervous  system,  which  becomes  more  com- 
plex, to  say  nothing  of  the  development  of  the 


"THE  INDIGNATION  OE  A  EINE  SOUL."     14 1 

brain — there  is  a  gradual  lifting  of  the  very  phys- 
ical form  itself,  up  through  reptile,  bird,  mammal, 
until  at  last  man  stands,  in  contradistinction  to  the 
lower  forms  of  life,  perpendicular,  with  his  feet 
upon  the  earth  and  his  head  pointing  to  the  far-off 
heavens.  Add  to  this  perpendicularity  the  growth 
and  the  development  and  the  perfection  of  brain 
which  is  in  man,  and  man  leaves  all  other  animals 
hopelessly  behind.  I  admit  that  man  is  an  animal. 
I  admit  that  the  animal  in  man  should  be  provided 
for;  it  should  be  well  fed  and  well  housed  and 
well  clad.  I  go  away  beyond  this,  and  this  is  the 
point  I  am  pressing :  I  hold  that  the  animal  in  man 
should  be  fed,  clad,  and  housed  for  the  express 
purpose  of  sustaining  and  keeping  in  health  that 
which  is  highest  in  man,  the  intellectual,  the  moral, 
the  spiritual.  My  quarrel  with  you,  0  man,  is 
this :  your  position  stops  with  the  animal  in  man. 
You  ignore  the  immortal  in  man.  If  a  man's  idea 
of  what  his  soul  wants  is  merely  to  find  the  soft 
side  of  the  world  and  enjoy  it,  it  is  no  wonder  that 
he  should  doubt,  as  many  such  men  do,  whether 
such  a  soul  can  be  immortal ;  for  he  treats  it  as 
no  higher  than  the  soul  of  a  dog,  whose  heaven  is 
a  soft  rug  in  front  of  a  warm  fire.  Your  sin  is 
that  you  end  where  you  end.  A  farm  well  tilled, 
a  barn  well  filled,  a  table  well  spread — there  is 
nothing  sinful  in  desiring  these.  Desire  for  such 
things  is  the  nurse  of  industry  and  thrift.  But 
your   sin   is  in  your  desire  ending  there,   wholly 


142  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

unbalanced  by  those  higher  desires  which  man  as 
a  son  of  God  should  cherish. 

You  are  a  fool  because  you  take  less  than  a 
man's  part.  You  lay  up  treasure  for  yourself,  but 
you  lay  up  no  treasure  in  yourself.  Nobility,  or 
rather  ability,  is  your  obligation.  Your  possibili- 
ties are  and  should  be  your  necessities.  We  ex- 
pect everything  to  act  according  to  its  nature. 
We  expect  the  lark  to  soar  and  sing.  We  expect 
the  watch-dog  to  be  faithful  according  to  its  breed. 
Now  we  should  deal  with  self  on  no  lower  stand- 
ard. What  does  this  standard  mean  for  us?  It 
means  that  we  shall  climb  up  into  the  ethical  and 
the  aesthetical  and  the  intellectual  and  the  spirit- 
ual and  the  worshipful.  It  means  deep  and  ear- 
nest thought  and  reverence  and  aspiration.  It 
means  the  possession  of  the  truth.  It  means  the 
love  of  all  that  is  high  and  fair  and  pure  and  sweet 
and  godlike.  It  means  the  consecration  of  our- 
selves to  noble  manhood  and  holy  womanhood. 
It  means  that  we  shall  feed  on  that  on  which  God 
feeds.  Propose  that,  O  man,  and  I  will  lock  hands 
with  you  upon  the  instant. 

I  have  this  also  against  thy  proposition,  O  man 
— there  is  no  God  in  it.  From  beginning  to  end 
it  is  atheistic.  I  have  heard  thee  talk,  and  the 
leading  word  in  thy  talk  has  been  the  word 
"  my."  "My  lands."  "My  barns."  "My  goods." 
"  My  corn."  "  My  soul."  No  God.  No  homage. 
No  worship.     -No  gratitude.      It  is  all  "  me   and 


"THE  INDIGNATION  OF  A  FIXE  SO  CI."      143 

mine."  Thou  infinite  liar!  thou  ownest  nothing. 
Thou  unjust  steward,  thou  dost  dishonestly  appro- 
priate what  belongs  to  another.  God,  whom  thou 
willfully  dost  exclude,  owns  everything.  The  corn 
is  His :  it  grew  on  His  earth,  was  watered  by  His 
rain  and  ripened  by  His  sun.  The  barns  are  His : 
His  forests  grew  the  timber  out  of  which  they  have 
been  built.  Thou  dost  not  even  own  thy  life ;  it 
was  given  thee  of  God,  to  be  returned  to  Him  by 
and  by  beautified  and  transfigured  by  holy  deeds. 
I  belong  to  God,  yet  by  excluding  Him  thou  pro- 
posest  to  me  that  I  shall  prove  traitor  to  my  God. 
No,  never!  It  is  He  who  makes  me  what  I  am. 
It  is  God  in  my  life  that  makes  my  life  glorious. 

My  life  is  an  insipid,  a  dull,  an  unattractive 
thing  until  God  comes  into  it.  It  is  like  a  figured 
window,  which  is  only  bits  of  colored  glass  till  the 
sunshine  gleams  behind  it.  But  how  magnificent 
is  the  window  when  thus  lighted ;  it  flashes  into 
purple  and  gold,  and  breaks  forth  into  the  splendors 
of  precious  stones.  Life  is  beautiful  when  lighted 
with  the  love  and  the  purposes  and  glory  of  God. 
You  propose  no  God,  and  no  Christ ;  but  God  and 
Christ  are  my  chief  and  constant  need.  You  offer 
me  only  "goods."  I  need  pardon;  I  need  re- 
demption ;  I  need  purification ;  I  need  preparation 
for  the  day  of  judgment.  Of  what  service  would 
"  goods  "  be  to  me  before  the  great  white  throne? 
Thou  wouldst  send  me  out  into  eternity  absolutely 
unprepared  and  helpless.     Away  from  me,  O  fiend 


144  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

of  hell,  and  emissary  of  the  devil !  I  mean  to  be 
saved.  I  mean  to  be  on  God's  winning  side  here 
on  earth,  and  I  mean  to  reign  with  God  on  His 
throne  in  heaven.  I  can  get  along  grandly  with- 
out thy  "goods,"  but  I  cannot  get  along  at  all 
without  God.  O  God,  come  Thou  and  enter  into 
my  life,  and  fill  every  faculty  of  my  being ;  for  I 
open  the  door  of  every  faculty  to  Thee.  There  is 
an  inspiration  that  comes  only  from  Thee,  and  that 
thrills  the  soul,  and  that  lifts  one  up  to  the  con- 
sciousness that  one  is  the  child  of  God :  grant  me 
that  inspiration,  that  I  may  live  by  it. 

Thou  proposest  no  God,  yet  no  man  has  been 
more  dependent  upon  God  than  thou  hast  been, 
or  has  so  come  into  direct  contact  with  God. 
"  The  sons  of  Tubal  Cain,  the  artificers  in  brass 
and  iron — there  might  be  some  excuse  for  these 
not  knowing  God,  there  are  so  many  second 
causes  coming  between  them  and  the  First  Great 
Cause.  The  mason  never  saw  the  quarry  whence 
were  hewn  the  granite  blocks  with  which  he  builds. 
The  carpenter  never  stood  under  the  oak  or  the 
pine  and  felt  the  presence  of  God  there.  He 
works  upon  the  timber  without  studying  that 
miracle  of  nature,  a  tree.  But  you  are  different. 
You  have  never  been  absorbed  by  the  roar  of  the 
blast-furnace,  nor  by  the  din  of  whirring  factory 
wheels.  God  has  run  the  great  engine  and  factory 
of  nature  for  you.  You  have  received  His  rain 
and  sunshine   directly  from    heaven.     You    have 


"THE  INDIGNATION  OF  A  FINE  SOUL."     1 45 

been  compelled  to  wait  for  Him,  and  you  have 
seen  Him  day  by  day  do  what  you  could  not  do. 
He  has  actually  worked  His  miracles  before  your 
eyes  to  bless  you  with  crops  and  abundance." 
For  you  to  be  an  atheist,  and  for  you  to  propose 
atheism  to  me,  is  nothing  short  of  monstrous  in- 
iquity. 

Added  to  the  sin  of  having  no  Fatherhood  of 
God  your  proposition  is  guilty  of  having  in  it  no 
brotherhood  of  man.  It  embraces  no  schemes  of 
philanthropy.  Having  no  God  in  heaven,  you 
have  no  brother  on  earth.  You  say,  "  There  is 
no  room  for  my  goods."  There  is  plenty  of  room. 
There  is  room  in  the  homes  of  the  destitute  and 
in  the  mouths  of  the  hungry.  These  are  God's 
granaries,  and  he  who  is  in  partnership  with  God 
and  who  recognizes  God's  claims  will  store  largely 
in  these.  Turn  your  crops  into  gold,  and  your 
gold  into  asylums,  and  into  orphan  homes,  and 
into  institutions  of  learning,  and  into  missionary 
stations,  and  into  those  needed  redemptive  agen- 
cies for  which  the  world  is  crying. 

I  have  another  objection  to  your  proposition, 
O  man.  It  is  this :  it  would  house  me  with  the 
corruptible  and  fading,  and  thus  expose  me  also 
to  corruption.  Dwelling  with  the  carnal,  I  too 
should  become  carnal.  The  Saviour  said:  "Lay 
not  up  for  yourselves  treasures  on  earth,  where 
moth  and  rust  doth  corrupt,  and  where  thieves 
break  through  and  steal;  but  lay  up  for  yourselves 


I46  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

treasures  in  heaven,  where  thieves  do  not  break 
through  nor  steal ;  for  where  your  treasure  is  there 
will  your  heart  be  also."  Now  notice  the  reason 
by  which  He  enforces  His  command.  A  noted 
thinker  puts  it  this  way  :  "  Why  not  lay  up  treas- 
ures upon  earth?  Because  there  the  moth  and 
rust  and  thief  come.  And  so  we  should  lose  those 
treasures.  Yes ;  by  the  moth  and  the  rust  and 
the  thief.  Does  our  Lord,  then,  mean  that  the 
reason  for  not  laying  up  treasures  is  their  transitory 
and  corruptible  nature?  No;  He  adds  a  '  for ' : 
'  for  where  your  treasure  is  there  will  your  heart 
be  also.'  Of  course  the  heart  will  be  where  the 
treasure  is,  but  what  has  that  to  do  with  the  argu- 
ment ?  This :  what  is  with  the  treasure  must  fare 
as  the  treasure  fares.  The  heart  that  haunts  the 
treasure-house  where  the  moth  and  the  rust  doth 
corrupt  will  be  exposed  to  the  same  ravages  as  the 
treasure — will  itself  be  rusted  and  moth-eaten. 
Ah,  here  is  the  hurt ;  the  immortal,  the  soul  cre- 
ated in  the  image  of  the  everlasting  God,  is  housed 
with  the  fading  and  the  corrupting,  and  clings  to 
them  as  its  good,  clings  to  them  till  it  is  infected, 
penetrated,  and  interpenetrated  with  their  disease 
and  foulness ;  creeps  with  them  into  a  burrow 
in  the  earth,  where  its  budded  wings  wither  and 
damp  and  drop  away  from  its  shoulders,  instead 
of  haunting  the  open  plains  and  the  highest  table- 
lands, spreading"  abroad  its  young  pinions  to  the 
sun  and  the  air,  and  strengthening  them  in  further 


11  THE  INDIGNATION  OF  A  FINE  SOUL."     147 

and  further  flights,  till  at  last  they  become  strong 
enough  to  bear  the  God-born  into  the  presence  of 
its  Father  in  heaven."  Ah,  therein  lies  the  hurt, 
and  this  is  the  hurt  which  your  proposition  would 
bring  into  my  experience.  I  deserve  something 
better.      I  reject  thy  proposition  in  toto. 

I  take  thy  proposition,  O  man,  to  the  Book  of 
God,  and  when  I  weigh  it  in  the  divine  balances, 
lo,  it  is  wanting.  The  whole  genius  of  the  Book 
is  against  it.  Moses  warns  the  Hebrews  against 
the  tendency  of  wealth  to  injure  the  soul.  Solo- 
mon says,  "  He  that  trusteth  in  riches  shall  fall." 
Christ  declares  that  "  the  deceitfulness  of  riches 
chokes  the  word."  He  declares  upon  general 
principles  that  "  it  is  easier  for  a  camel  to  go 
through  the  eye  of  a  needle  than  for  a  rich  man 
to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God."  James  teaches 
that  "  the  friendship  of  the  world  is  enmity  against 
God."  John  says,  "  If  any  man  love  the  world, 
the  love  of  the  Father  is  not  in  him."  The  apos- 
tates of  the  first  era  of  the  Church  were  Judas  and 
Demas,  and  they  were  both  ruined  by  the  love  of 
money.  In  the  beginning  there  were  but  two  rich 
men  that  evinced  any  love  for  Jesus,  and  they  were 
both  cowards — Nicodemus  and  Joseph  of  Arima- 
thea.  The  rich  young  man  of  the  Gospel  went 
away  from  Christ.  He  was  sorrowful  in  going, 
but  he  went  away.  My  Bible  gives  me  one  ex- 
ample where  your  proposition,  O  man,  was  tried 
to  the  very  extreme,  and  it  ingloriously  failed  to 


148  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

give  the  heart  happiness.  Solomon  tried  it,  and  it 
landed  him  in  black  remorse.  I  ask  you  to  look 
at  his  life  as  I  have,  and  see  it  as  I  see  it.  There 
are  no  outward  reverses  in  it  to  speak  of.  True. 
As  Robertson  says,  "  His  reign  was  the  type  of 
the  reign  of  power  and  peace ;  no  war,  no  national 
disaster  interrupted  the  even  flow  of  the  current  of 
his  days.  No  loss  of  child,  like  David's,  pouring 
cold  desolation  into  his  soul ;  no  pestilence,  no 
famine.  That  is  all  true.  Prosperity  and  riches, 
and  the  internal  development  of  the  nation's  life — 
that  was  the  reign  of  Solomon.  And  yet  with  all 
this  was  Solomon  happy?  Has  God  no  winged 
arrows  in  heaven  for  the  heart  except  those  which 
come  in  the  shape  of  outward  calamity  ?  Is  there 
no  way  that  God  has  of  making  the  heart  gray  and 
old  before  its  time,  without  sending  bereavement 
or  loss  or  sickness?  Has  the  Eternal  Justice  no 
mode  of  withering  and  drying  up  the  inner  springs 
of  happiness  while  all  is  green  and  wild  and  fresh 
outwardly?"  Look  into  the  history  of  Solomon 
for  the  answer.  Read  the  Book  of  Ecclesiastes. 
That  book  is  the  experience  of  a  course  such  as 
you  propose  to  me.  It  vibrates  through  and 
through  from  its  beginning  to  its  end  with  disgust 
with  the  world,  and  with  mankind,  and  with  life, 
and  with  self.  It  is  full  also  of  doubt  and  blind- 
ness and  darkness  and  despair.  It  is  full  of  a 
philosophy  that  perplexes  and  that  hopelessly  en- 
gulfs the  soul.     The  Book  of  Ecclesiastes  is  the 


"THE  INDIGNATION  OF  A  FINE  SOUL."      14-9 

darkest  and  most  pitiful  book  ever  written,  and  yet 
it  is  a  literal  transcript  of  the  life  you  propose  to 
me.  Contrast  Solomon  with  Paul  and  with  John, 
and  contrast  the  Book  of  Ecclesiastes  with  the 
eighth  chapter  of  Romans,  and  with  the  Apoca- 
lypse. I  mean  to  rewrite  the  eighth  chapter  to 
the  Romans.  I  mean  to  rewrite  the  Apocalypse. 
God  forbid  that  I  should  rewrite  the  Book  of 
Ecclesiastes.  "  Eat,  drink,  and  be  merry  "  is  your 
proposition ;  I  tell  you  plainly,  O  man,  there  are 
as  many  mean  and  damnable  lies  in  your  proposi- 
tion as  there  are  words. 

You  propose  to  me,  "Take  thine  ease."  There 
is  no  such  thing  as  ease  to  a  soul  which  proposes 
to  itself  the  life  I  propose  to  myself.  I  propose  to 
live  a  life  which  shall  leave  behind  it  an  influence 
for  good  that  can  never  die.  This  is  a  possible 
thing  to  do.  Jesus  lived  such  a  life.  After  He 
died  He  lived  more  efficiently  than  when  He  was 
alive.  The  death  of  the  apostles  stopped  nothing, 
but  sped  much.  John  Brown's  influence  at  Har- 
per's Ferry  was  as  nothing  in  comparison  with 
John  Brown's  influence  in  the  armies  of  the  North. 
He  took  Fort  Donelson.  He  marched  through 
Georgia.  He  won  the  battle  of  Gettysburg.  We 
may  criticise  the  man  and  his  methods,  but  these 
are  the  facts  of  history. 

I  mean  to  climb  up  into  the  very  heights  of 
God.  The  soul  that  does  that  has  no  time  or 
energy  to  waste  in  wearing  ease.      I   am  like  the 


£50  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

prisoner  of  Chillon.  Byron  makes  the  illustrious 
Bonnivard  dig  footholds  in  the  walls  of  his  dun- 
geon, by  which  he  climbs  to  the  lofty  window  of 
his  cell  to  get  a  look  at  the  impressive  mountains 
of  his  native  Switzerland.  For  weary  years  he 
had  been  confined  in  the  prison  of  Chillon  be- 
low the  level  of  the  waters  of  Lake  Geneva.  He 
could  hear  the  waters  ripple  day  and  night.  They 
formed,  as  it  were,  a  second  prison  wall.  One  day 
a  bird  sang  at  the  prison  window  the  sweetest  song 
he  had  ever  heard.  It  resurrected  his  heart  of 
stone.  It  created  a  yearning  for  a  look  over  the 
land  which  was  free  to  the  bird.  So  the  prisoner 
dug  footholds  in  the  plaster  of  the  wail  and  climbed 
to  the  window  above.  He  looked  out  and  he  saw 
the  mountains  unchanged.  He  saw  the  snow  of  a 
thousand  years,  and  learned  patience.  That  look 
put  new  life  into  him  and  gave  him  a  vision  that 
lasted  him  to  the  end.  From  that  sight  he  ob- 
tained rest,  strength,  solace.  I  mean  to  climb  up 
to  God  that  I  may  get  God's  vision  of  life,  and  be 
forever  consoled  by  the  sight  of  something  grand 
and  inviting  beyond  this  life,  in  which  I  am  now 
as  in  a  prison.  I  mean  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  the 
towering  peaks  of  immortality.  I  am  cutting  foot- 
holds for  my  faith  in  the  promises  of  God,  and  I 
have  no  time  for  ease,  and  I  want  no  ease.  The 
joy  of  such  work  is  far  better  than  ease.  I  want 
not  rich  living,  I  want  only  a  rich  life. 

One   more  word   with   thee,  O  man,  and   that 


"THE  INDIGNATION  OF  A  FIXE  SOUL:'      151 

word  is  this :  in  thy  proposition  thou  overlookest 
the  greatest  certainty  of  the  universe,  viz.,  the  fact 
of  death.  Whilst  thou  art  talking  about  "  much 
goods,"  the  pocketless  shroud  is  waiting  for  thee. 
And  whilst  thou  art  talking  of  "  many  years,"  this 
very  night  the  order  of  God  shall  be  "  exit  rich 
farmer,"  "  enter  greedy  heirs." 

Walk,  O  man,  amid  thy  possessions,  and  forget 
not  thy  mortality.  Say  to  thyself,  "  Self,  I  am  a 
dying  man."  Say  to  thy  storehouses,  "  Store- 
houses, I  am  a  dying  man."  Say  to  thy  barns, 
"  Barns,  I  am  a  dying  man."  Say  to  the  farm, 
"Farm,  I  am  a  dying  man."  "Thou  fool,  this 
night  shall  thy  life  be  required  of  thee." 

Such  is  the  indignation  of  a  fine  soul  when  its 
finest  susceptibilities  are  tempted  to  materialism. 
It  is  hot  and  pungent.  It  is  just  and  right  and 
godlike.  There  are  some  lessons  which  we  should 
learn  from  the  indignation  of  a  fine  soul.  Let  me 
present  these  lessons  as  I  see  them. 

1 .  We  should  seek  an  all-around  development  of 
our  nature. 

This  nature  of  ours  reaches  from  nadir  to  zenith, 
but  no  part  of  it  can  be  neglected  if  we  are  ever  to 
reach  a  complete  self.  It  will  not  do  to  rest  satis- 
fied with  controlling  and  keeping  in  proper  place 
the  animal  part  of  our  nature ;  we  must  look  after 
the  mental  as  well.  It  will  not  do  to  rest  satisfied 
with  looking  after  the  mental,  we  must  look  after 
the  social,  the  moral,  the  spiritual  also.      Some  err 


152  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

here ;  they  concentrate  all  their  energies  in  train- 
ing the  mental,  and  stop  there.  This  makes  im- 
perfect men.  Goethe  might  be  mentioned  here. 
He  developed  his  intellect,  but  not  his  social 
nature.  He  would  have  been  a  greater  man  if  he 
had  developed  his  social  nature.  He  lived  in  the 
midst  of  some  of  the  greatest  social  and  political 
changes  that  Europe  has  ever  seen,  without  speak- 
ing a  word  or  lifting  a  finger  to  show  that  he  cared 
for  them.  He  did  not  even  intimate  that  they 
engaged  his  attention.  The  social  side  of  his 
nature  was  so  dwarfed  that  he  could  appear  to  be 
practically  indifferent  to  the  wants  and  sorrows  and 
upheavals  of  the  world.  George  William  Curtis 
published  some  years  ago  a  volume  entitled  "  Prue 
and  I."  In  it  is  a  chapter  called  "  Mr.  Titbottom's 
Spectacles."  The  magical  quality  of  these  specta- 
cles was  that,  when  their  owner  looked  through 
them  at  people,  he  ceased  to  see  persons  as  they 
ordinarily  appeared  on  the  street;  he  saw  their 
real  essential  character  personified.  Wonderful 
were  the  revelations  that  were  made.  He  looked 
at  one  man  and  saw  nothing  but  a  ledger.  An- 
other was  simply  a  billiard-cue.  Another  a  jockey 
cap.  Another  a  pack  of  cards.  He  looked  at 
women,  and  one  was  a  broomstick.  Another  was 
a  fashion-plate.  A  third  was  a  needle,  and  thus 
on.  The  moral  of  the  story  is  a  fact  that  is  true, 
viz.,  most  people  are  only  developed  on  one  side 


"THE  INDIGNATION  OF  A  FINE  SOUL."     153 

of  their  nature,  and  they  are  in  consequence  nar- 
row, and  live  narrow  lives.  This  is  not  what  God 
intends.     This  is  not  what  our  nature  deserves. 

2.  Where  a  soul  is  developed  zee  sJiould  not  ex- 
pect it  to  be  satisfied  ivitli  low  tilings. 

Here,  for  example,  is  a  young  woman,  beautiful 
not  as  an  animal  merely ;  she  has  something  be- 
sides animal  beauty.  She  has  fine,  delicate  sensibili- 
ties. She  has  a  social  nature  which  responds  to  the 
conditions  of  humanity  at  large.  She  has  a  keen 
conscience,  deciding  right  and  wrong.  She  must 
do  right  at  any  cost.  She  must  sympathize  with 
the  world's  sorrows  and  infirmities,  and  give  a 
helping  hand.  Forbid  her  this,  and  you  cut  off 
the  highest  joy  and  satisfaction  of  her  life.  She 
is  a  woman  with  an  ideally  perfect  character  before 
her  as  her  goal.  She  has  an  ideal  outlook.  There 
are  hosts  of  such  young  women  in  the  Christian 
Church.  It  happens  that  she  mates  with  a  hus- 
band who  is  a  splendid  business  man.  But  he  is 
nothing  else,  and  he  cares  for  nothing  else.  He 
builds  a  beautiful  home ;  fills  it  with  everything — 
carpets,  furniture,  pictures,  bric-a-brac — and  then 
wonders  that  she  is  not  fed.  He  expects  her,  with 
all  her  higher  developments,  to  feed  and  live  on 
bricks  and  marble  and  carpets  and  sofas ;  and  he 
wonders  that  she  is  not  satisfied.  He  addresses 
her  as  the  man  of  the  parable  addresses  his  soul. 
He  should  open  the  door  for  her  out  into  the  world 


154  0UR    BEST  MOODS. 

of  philanthropy  and  Christian  service.  That  is 
what  she  needs,  and  only  with  that  can  she  ever 
be  made  happy. 

3.  If  we  arc  ever  to  be  what  we  should  be  and 
live  as  we  should  live,  we  mast  make  Christ,  who 
spake  the  parable,  oar  model,  and  get  our  ideals 
and  inspirations  from  Hi  in. 

A  visitor  going  into  the  studio  of  a  great  painter 
found  on  his  easel  some  very  fine  gems,  brilliant 
and  sparkling.  Asking  why  he  kept  them  there, 
the  painter  replied :  "  I  keep  them  there  to  tone 
up  my  eyes.  When  I  am  working  in  pigments, 
insensibly  the  sense  of  color  becomes  weakened. 
By  having  these  pure  colors  before  me  to  refresh 
my  eyes  the  sense  of  color  is  brought  up  again, 
just  as  the  musician  by  his  tuning-fork  brings  his 
strings  up  to  the  concert  pitch."  For  right  living 
we  need  clear  conceptions  of  the  Perfect  One. 
Such  conceptions  only  produce  high  moral  impres- 
sions. We  need  to  be  toned  up.  We  need  the 
high  and  holy  life  of  the  perfect  Man,  Christ  Jesus. 
He  raises  our  conceptions.  He  re-gives  us  the 
ideals  which  are  beginning  to  fade  out.  He  tones 
up  our  spiritual  eyes,  so  that  they  discern  clearly 
and  rightly  and  accurately. 

As  we  abide  in  the  house  of  God  to-day  let  us 
seek  a  vision  of  what  God  would  have  us  to  be. 
My  fellow-men,  a  vision  is  not  an  impromptu 
affair.  It  is  a  result.  It  is  a  growth.  Now  we 
should  honestly  give  ourselves  up  to  dreams  and 


"THE  INDIGNATION  OF  A  FINE  SOUL."      155 

to  contemplation  and  to  thought  and  to  aspiration 
until  we  reach  a  glowing  vision — a  vision  of  the 
play  of  principle  and  its  undeviating  results ;  a 
vision  of  Christ  and  His  glory,  and  the  place  which 
He  holds  in  the  universe ;  a  vision  of  the  gospel, 
what  it  is,  and  what  it  is  doing  in  the  world. 
Above  all  things,  we  should  give  ourselves  up  to 
dreams,  and  to  contemplation,  and  to  deep,  serious 
thought,  and  to  aspiration,  until  we  reach  a  glow- 
ing vision  of  self- — what  we  should  be  ;  what  it  is 
possible  for  us  to  be  ;  what  Christ  has  promised 
we  shall  be,  if  we  let  Him  into  our  lives  to  inspire 
and  to  mold.  Such  a  vision  we  should  look  upon 
as  a  divine  gift  from  God.  We  should  look  upon 
it  as  a  promise  and  as  a  prophecy.  We  should 
grasp  it  and  keep  it  as  we  keep  our  own  souls. 
We  should  ever  believe  in  it  as  a  possible  thing, 
and  never  cease  working  toward  it  until  it  is  com- 
pletely and  grandly  realized  in  a  finished  Christian 
personality.  To  reach  such  a  vision,  and  to  gaze 
upon  it  until  we  incarnate  it — this  is  to  deal  fairly 
with  our  soul,  and  to  protect  it  from  the  power 
of  every  degrading  thing. 


VII. 

HELP  AND  CHEER  FROM  THE  GLORIFIED 
DEAD. 


VII. 

HELP  AND  CHEER  FROM  THE 
GLORIFIED  DEAD. 

"  Wherefore,  seeing  that  we  are  compassed  about  with  so  great  a 
cloud  of  "witnesses,  let  us  ran  with  patience  the  race  that  is  set  before 
us." — Hebrews  12: 1. 

There  is  no  doubt  about  it,  the  simplest  and 
most  obvious  interpretation  of  the  text  gives  us 
this  great  fact :  the  Church  in  heaven  is  interested 
in  the  Church  on  earth — the  glorified  dead  cheer 
us  on  to  our  goal. 

There  is  great  help  in  a  cheer.  A  cheer  is  a 
moral  power.  It  adds  the  life  of  those  who  cheer 
us  to  our  life,  and  it  inspires  us  with  their  courage 
and  their  feelings  and  their  aims.  It  awakens  our 
latent  energies,  and  fills  us  with  hope.  By  means 
of  it  we  are  born  into  our  higher  self.  It  carries 
us  to  success. 

You  have,  perhaps,  seen  this  incident  related  in 
the  daily  press ;  it  is  apropos  as  an  illustration. 
A  New  York  fireman  was  at  the  top  of  a  ladder 
striving  to  gain  an  entrance  through  the  window 
into  a  burning  tenement.     There  was  a  sleeping 

i5Q 


160  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

babe  within.  The  dense,  curling  smoke,  in  which 
was  a  fierce  bright-red  jet  of  flame,  dashed  in  his 
face  and  baffled  him ;  once,  twice,  thrice,  he  made 
an  attempt  to  enter,  and  finally  gave  up  and 
turned  to  come  down.  The  babe  was  abandoned 
to  its  fate.  The  on-watching  crowd  below  was 
horror-stricken.  At  this  juncture  of  affairs,  one 
man  in  the  crowd,  as  if  moved  by  an  inspiration 
from  God,  cried,  "Let  us  give  him  a  cheer!" 
The  proposal  found  the  response  of  an  intuition  in 
the  hearts  of  the  vast  crowd,  and  in  a  second 
every  voice  rent  the  air.  To  the  fireman  the  voice 
of  the  people  was  the  voice  of  God.  Under  the 
inspiration  of  their  cheer  he  ran  up  the  ladder  and 
dashed  through  the  window,  and  then  appeared 
again  with  the  rescued  child  in  his  arms.  Under 
the  power  of  a  cheer  he  accomplished  what  would 
otherwise  have  been  impossible.  When  he  came 
down  to  the  foot  of  the  ladder  and  presented 
the  child  to  its  mother,  New  York  never  heard  a 
heartier  plaudit  than  that  which  the  crowd  gave 
the  hero  of  the  hour.  What  was  in  that  cheer? 
In  it  was  the  picture  of  the  babe  in  danger ;  in  it 
was  the  horror  of  the  crowd ;  in  it  was  the  expres- 
sion of  human  hope.  It  carried  to  the  soul  of  the 
fireman  the  feelings  and  the  wishes  and  the  sym- 
pathies and  the  daring  of  the  multitudes.  In  it 
the  strength  of  the  on-looking  crowd  took  posses- 
sion of  the  man,  and  made  him  a  hero.  It  was 
the  strength  of  the  crowd  that  dashed  into  the  fire- 


THE    GLORIFIED  DEAD.  l6l 

filled  room,  and  that  dashed  out  again  with  the 
saved  life. 

There  is  great  help  in  a  cheer.  It  brings  into 
the  soul  of  man  the  added  life  of  others.  This 
increased  power,  this  added  life  of  others,  we 
all  need,  if  we  are  to  reach  with  honor  the  goal 
of  a  grand  earthly  career.  This  will  be  appar- 
ent to  any  one  who  grasps  fully  what  the  goal  of 
life  is. 

What  is  the  goal  of  life?  Perfect  manhood  in 
Christ  Jesus — that  is  the  goal  of  our  life.  Our 
best  possible  self  reached — that  is  our  goal.  A 
life  in  earnest — that  is  our  goal.  Are  we  not  told 
by  the  text  to  make  our  life  a  life  in  earnest? 
Life  is  to  be  a  race.  What  do  we  see  in  a  race? 
Muscles  strained ;  veins  like  whip-cords ;  beaded 
perspiration ;  strenuous,  intense,  earnest  speed. 
The  reality  in  the  mental  and  spiritual  man  corre- 
sponding to  these  symbols  in  the  physical  man — 
that  is  our  goal.  The  figure  of  the  Olympian 
Agonistae  means  a  life  in  earnest  or  it  means  noth- 
ing. Useful  service  in  life,  or  duty  well  done — 
that  is  our  goal.  Temptation  met  and  resisted  and 
conquered — that  is  our  goal.  Power  to  love,  to 
be  just,  to  be  pure,  to  be  true,  to  control  external 
life  and  internal  life — that  is  our  goal.  Honest 
success  in  the  avocation  of  life  which  we  follow — 
that  is  our  goal.  The  success  of  the  Christian 
lawyer,  of  the  Christian  business  man,  of  the 
Christian  artificer,  of  the  Christian  scholar,  is  just 


1 62  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

so  much  power  added  to  the  personality  which  he 
consecrates  to  the  cause  of  God  and  to  the  uplifting 
of  humanity  in  the  world.  We  should  therefore 
look  upon  success  in  our  daily  avocation  as  a  duty 
which  we  owe  God  and  man.  We  should  push 
our  business,  and  our  study,  and  our  practice,  and 
our  manual  toil  until  they  have  become  a  success. 
To  reach  success  in  every  case  will  take  hard 
work ;  but  to  do  hard  and  healthful  work  is  the 
purpose  of  God  in  bringing  us  into  the  world. 
Hard  work  has  always  been  the  condition  of  suc- 
cess in  all  the  departments  of  life.  No  man  ever 
became  a  Bunsen  or  a  Helmholtz  in  the  laboratory 
apart  from  endless  experimenting  with  chemicals. 
No  man  or  woman  ever  went  up  the  way  of  the 
violin,  or  the  way  of  the  piano,  or  the  way  of  the 
organ,  or  the  way  of  the  orchestra,  except  by 
labor.  The  Beethovens,  the  Mendelssohns,  the 
Mozarts,  the  Haydns,  and  the  Handels,  who  cheer 
human  life  with  their  sweetness  of  music,  were 
all  incarnated  energy  and  ambition  and  push. 

We  cannot  too  often  set  before  man  a  high 
standard  or  urge  upon  him  the  necessity  of  effort. 
Every  one  has  his  quantum  of  duty  in  this  world. 
Every  one  has  his  responsibilities  to  meet,  and  his 
lot  to  fill,  and  his  character  to  build  and  maintain ; 
and  only  constant  effort  can  make  him  successful 
in  his  trusts.  A  man  may  have  desire,  and  he 
needs  desire ;  but  desire  enervates  if  it  be  not 
backed   by  effort.      A  man  may  have  hope,  and 


THE    GLORIFIED  DEAD.  1 63 

he  needs  hope ;  but  hope  will  always  meet  with 
defeat,  if  it  remain  inert  and  be  nothing  more 
than  a  mere  expectation  of  good  luck.  A  man 
may  have  aspiration,  and  he  needs  aspiration ;  but 
aspiration  will  prove  volatile  and  will  evaporate  if 
it  be  not  married  to  work.  There  is  no  substi- 
tute for  effort  if  a  man  would  be  successful.  But 
success,  success  in  all  of  the  honorable  avocations 
of  life — that  is  our  goal.  The  protection  of  self 
against  all  deterioration — that  is  our  goal.  We 
must  conserve  and  keep  all  the  advances  we  make. 
Our  life  must  be  a  perpetual  going  forward.  If 
we  lose  that  which  we  have  attained,  our  ending 
in  the  race  of  life  will  be  worse  than  our  starting. 
There  is  no  sight  in  life  so  pitiable  as  that  of  a 
man  who  is  carried  backward  by  deterioration, 
and  who  has  lost  all  ambition  to  resist  deterioration. 
An  old  man,  who  began  enthusiastically  with  high, 
moral  sentiments  and  purposes,  whom  life  has 
hewn,  and  cut  down,  and  diminished,  and  soured, 
and  made  censorious,  and  deprived  of  all  impulse 
for  virtue  and  for  disinterestedness — an  old  man 
who  began  with  all  the  best  sentiments  of  youth 
bright  and  glowing,  but  who  has  allowed  himself  to 
be  vulgarized,  who  stands  in  his  old  age  indifferent 
morally,  and  who  allows  himself,  with  open  eyes, 
to  gravitate  down  and  down — there  is  not,  under 
God's  heaven,  another  sight  more  pitiable  than  such 
an  old  man.  If  there  is  a  sight  more  pitiable, 
it  is  the  sight  of  a  young  man  without  impulse  in 


1 64  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

the  spring  of  his  life ;  with  no  freshness,  with  no 
spontaneity,  with  no  aspiration,  with  no  romance, 
with  no  outburst,  with  no  generosity.  A  young 
man  should  be  full  of  fiery  passion  and  impetu- 
osity and  ambition  and  tendencies  that  are  almost 
irresistible ;  but  he  should  see  to  it  that  these  are 
kept  on  the  right  track.  These  things  on  the 
right  track  are  our  protection  against  deterioration, 
and  our  assurance  of  a  progress  that  will  ulti- 
mately bring  us  to  the  goal  of  life. 

Such  is  the  goal  of  our  life  toward  which  we 
should  press.  I  have  not  put  it  too  high,  I  have 
not  made  it  too  great.  The  point  before  us  now 
is  this :  that  to  reach  the  goal  of  our  life  we  need 
help  and  cheer.  We  need  something  to  counter- 
act the  things  which  are  against  us.  What  are  the 
things  which  are  against  us?  Our  own  indisposi- 
tion to  hard  work  is  against  us ;  our  timidity  by 
nature  is  against  us.  We  are  full  of  self-distrust, 
and  this  is  against  us.  Our  sensitiveness  to  the 
criticism  of  others  is  against  us ;  the  power  of  our 
temptations  is  against  us  ;  the  vastness  of  our  tasks 
is  against  us ;  the  disability  which  is  ours  by  he- 
redity is  against  us.  With  some  men  the  hands 
of  twenty  ancestors  are  let  down  to  lift  them  up 
to  success,  but  these  men  are  few ;  with  the  major- 
ity of  men  the  contrary  is  the  case :  the  hands 
of  twenty  ancestors  with  fiery  fingers  are  pulling 
them  down  while  they  are  trying  to  lift  them- 
selves up.     All  of  these  things  make  us  hesitate 


THE    GLORIFIED  DEAD.  1 65 

and  fill  us  with  fear,  and  our  hesitation  and  fear 
weaken  us.  Our  failure  in  past  efforts  is  against 
us.  Our  underestimation  by  others  is  against  us ; 
they  put  us  into  withering  contrast  with  the  great, 
and  make  us  feel  our  littleness. 

I  knew  a  man  once  who  had  the  good  fortune 
to  hear  Rubinstein  when  he  was  in  America ;  but 
his  privilege  made  a  cynic  out  of  him.  He  always 
took  occasion  to  remark,  when  any  one  played 
upon  the  piano  before  him,  "  I  heard  Rubinstein 
when  he  was  here ;  I  really  have  never  heard  any 
piano-music  worth  listening  to  since."  It  would 
take  a  powerful  cheer  to  counteract  such  a  dis- 
heartening contrast.  When  I  started  as  a  young 
man  in  the  ministry,  among  the  first  things  that 
happened  after  my  installation  was  a  call  from  an 
old  man  of  the  congregation,  who  greeted  me  in 
this  way  :  "  David,  I  called  around  to  say  that  you 
will  have  to  preach  tip-top  sermons  if  you  mean 
to  succeed  in  suiting  me ;  for  I  have  been  used 
to  hearing  such  men  as  Thomas  Chalmers  and 
Thomas  Guthrie  and  Dr.  Candlish  and  Robert  Mur- 
ray MacCheyne  and  Dr.  William  Arnot.  I  am  high 
up  in  my  preaching  tastes."  I  was  downcast  for  a 
month  after  that.  The  only  cheer  that  lifted  me 
up  again  was  the  translation  of  that  good  father  to 
the  land  where  Chalmers  and  Guthrie  and  Cand- 
lish and  MacCheyne  and  Payson  still  carry  on  their 
ministry.  While  here  on  earth,  the  good  father 
was  a  hindrance  to  me ;  but  the  moment  his  face 


1 66  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

looked  down  upon  me  from  the  glory-cloud,  he 
became  a  help. 

Because  of  the  obstacles  which  meet  us  in  our 
way  as  we  push  on  toward  the  goal  of  life,  we  are 
in  constant  need  of  help  and  cheer;  this  need  God 
sees,  and  for  this  need  God  provides.  He  brings 
our  fellow-men  into  our  lives,  and  makes  them 
powerful  factors  for  inspiration  ;  He  brings  into  our 
lives  the  glorified  dead,  and  makes  them  cheer  us 
on.  There  are  a  host  of  other  factors  which  God 
uses  to  make  us  strong  and  to  build  into  us  the 
elements  of  victory  ;  but  our  text  excludes  these, 
and  centers  our  thoughts  solely  upon  the  influence 
of  the  celestial  witnesses.  It  was  the  glorified 
dead  that  put  hope  and  courage  and  faith  and  life 
into  the  discouraged  Hebrew  Christians.  A  thou- 
sand faces  rose  before  them  in  the  long  vista  of 
history,  and  with  united  voice  the  generations  of 
the  past  bade  them  be  of  good  cheer,  and  trust 
in  God,  and  triumph.  Abel  cheered  them,  and 
so  did  Abraham,  and  so  did  Moses,  and  so  did 
Samuel,  and  so  did  Rahab.  Each  voice  gave 
added  thrill  to  the  cheer,  and  all  together  pro- 
claimed that  any  man,  even  though  he  may  be 
weakened  and  disfigured  by  a  thousand  faults, 
can  succeed  and  become  illustrious  if  he  only  let 
God  into  his  life,  and  live  "  as  seeing  Him  who  is 
invisible." 

How  do  the  glorified  dead  help  and  cheer  us? 
This  is  the  practical  question  of  this  sermon,  and 
toward  this  question  we  have  been  pressing  from 


THE   GLORIFIED  DEAD.  \6j 

the  very  beginning.  The  answer  of  this  question 
will  assist  us  in  realizing  the  fact  that  we  do  pos- 
sess their  help  and  cheer.  Of  what  value  are  our 
possessions  if  we  are  ignorant  of  them?  Igno- 
rance will  make  us  like  the  farmer  who  has  mines 
of  gold  beneath  his  soil,  but  who  knows  it  not. 
He  raises  nothing  but  potatoes,  nothing  but  corn, 
nothing  but  cattle ;  yet  under  the  feet  of  his  cat- 
tle, and  under  the  soil  on  which  the  corn  grows, 
are  grains  of  gold.  He  is  poor  in  the  midst  of 
wealth.  Treasures  of  the  soul  are  ours,  and  yet 
we  are  poor;  power  is  within  reach,  and  yet  we 
are  weak ;  our  weakness  and  our  poverty  come 
because  we  do  not  know  and  use  what  is  ours. 

I  wish  to  notice  two  ways  in  which  the  glorified 
dead  help  us  on  toward  our  goal : 

I.  They  help  us  by  what  they  have  left  us  as  a 
heritage. 

i .    They  have  left  us  the  fruitage  of  their  labors. 

The  cities  we  live  in,  they  built  them  ;  the  insti- 
tutions we  enjoy,  they  founded  them  ;  the  great 
reformations  which  are  being  carried  on,  they  in- 
augurated them ;  the  books  in  our  libraries,  they 
wrote  them.  Contemporary  thought  is  in  the 
minority  in  the  world  of  books.  We  should  be 
different  men  from  what  we  are,  inferior  men,  if 
we  did  not  have  their  cities  and  their  institutions 
and  their  reformations  and  their  books  and  their 
lives.  The  world  would  be  infinitely  poorer  if  you 
took  away  from  it  the  results  which  come  from  the 
lives  of  the  great  men  who  have  gone.     They  were 


1 68  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

all  of  them  altruistic,  and  lived  for  coming  genera- 
tions ;  they  enlarged  life,  broadened  it,  deepened 
it.  Human  life  was  broader  after  Abraham  lived 
and  exercised  his  marvelous  faith.  It  was  still 
broader  after  Moses  lived  and  gave  the  world  the 
Ten  Commandments.  It  was  broader  still  after 
the  prophets  lived  and  dreamed  their  enthusiastic 
dreams,  and  left  the  human  race  their  glowing 
visions  of  the  coming  kingdom  of  God.  Men  have 
always  been  helped  by  their  predecessors,  and 
have  climbed  to  heights  upon  the  greatness  and 
the  talents  of  the  departed.  Alexander  the  Great 
always  carried  with  him  a  copy  of  the  Iliad,  and 
the  hero  of  the  Iliad,  Achilles,  the  mighty  man, 
the  self-willed,  the  stern,  the  strong,  the  masterful, 
capable  of  bending  the  world  as  he  wished,  became 
the  ideal  after  which  Alexander  molded  his  life. 
Here  is  the  secret  of  much  that  Alexander  did. 
It  was  Achilles  who  made  him. 

Alexander  carried  the  Iliad ;  you  carry  the 
Epistles  of  Paul  and  the  Apocalypse  of  John,  and 
your  life  is  sweetened  and  broadened  and  illumi- 
nated and  deepened  and  ennobled  by  the  writings 
of  these  holy  men. 

2.    They  have  left  us  their  influences. 

The  great  ones  go  away  in  the  flesh  only  to 
come  back  as  universal  presences.  The  prophets, 
for  example,  seemed  almost  powerless  and  useless 
in  their  time.  But  look  at  the  life  they  have  lived 
since.     They  have  been  God's  pilots  guiding  the 


THE    GLORIFIED  DEAD.  169 

Church  of  the  latter  days  through  all  its  perils. 
From  their  black  bosoms  they  send  forth  the  blasts 
of  God's  lightning  and  the  roar  of  His  thunder ;  if 
the  Church  needs  rebuke  to-day,  it  is  they  who 
must  hurl  it.  When  George  Washington  was  liv- 
ing he  was  spoken  against  and  abused ;  but  now 
he  is  revered,  and  his  words  go  one  hundred  times 
further,  and  carry  one  hundred  times  more  weight 
and  influence  than  the  words  of  the  greatest  living 
American  statesman. 

3.    They  have  left  us  a  holy  felloivship. 

Although  they  are  invisible,  yet  we  fellowship 
with  them.  Physical  presence  is  not  necessary  for 
fellowship.  We  are  conscious  that  we  live  a  great 
deal  of  our  lives  with  those  whom  we  never  saw ; 
whose  human  figure  we  cannot  even  imagine, 
but  whose  poetry,  whose  essays,  whose  historical 
works,  whose  prayers,  whose  religious  medita- 
tions, and  whose  holy  resolutions  we  read.  These 
good  people  are  more  companionable  and  more 
personal  to  us  than  many  whom  we  behold  with 
the  outward  vision.  They  take  hold  of  more 
points  in  us,  and  higher  points,  than  those  who 
dwell  beneath  the  same  roof.  My  fellow-men,  the 
latitude  and  longitude  of  the  soul  are  magnificent, 
and  in  consequence  thereof,  great  and  wide  and 
grand  is  the  wealth  of  the  soul  and  the  life  of  the 
soul.  Men  everywhere  in  the  universe  belong  to 
the  soul,  and  it  appropriates  to  itself  the  sum  of 
all  living. 


I  70  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

4.  They  have  left  for  our  admiration  genuine 
greatness  worked  out  in  human  nature. 

It  is  everything  to  us  that  they  once  lived  in 
our  nature.  The  sun  controls  and  attracts  and 
dominates  the  earth,  and  thrills  it  with  its  life  and 
heat,  not  simply  because  it  is  greater  than  the 
earth,  but  also  and  especially  because  sun  and 
earth  are  composed  substantially  of  the  same  ele- 
ments. They  are  of  one  nature.  The  earth,  as  a 
ring  of  cosmic  vapor,  was  flung  off  from  the  parent 
planet,  the  sun.  The  glorified  dead  influence  us 
because  they  and  we  are  in  nature  substantially 
one  and  the  same ;  partakers  of  their  nature,  we 
are  susceptible  to  their  sympathies  and  their  aims. 
Their  greatness  and  purity  and  nobility  reach  and 
stir  the  greatness  and  purity  and  nobility  which 
slumber  in  us,  for,  having  their  nature,  we  have 
their  attributes  to  be  reached  and  stirred.  By 
their  triumphs  they  create  within  us  the  conscious- 
ness of  coming  glory.  First  there  is  awakened  in 
us  a  response  to  their  nobility  as  they  heroically 
struggle,  then  this  awakened  response  develops 
into  downright  admiration.  There  is  nothing  men 
so  admire,  there  is  no  picture  that  human  fancy  so 
delights  to  paint,  as  the  picture  of  a  man  suffering 
and  triumphing.  Prometheus  bound !  CEdipus  in 
Colonus!  Hamlet!  It  is  tragic  images  like  these 
that  haunt  men  with  a  strange  fascination.  And 
why  ?  Because  in  them  we  see  a  man  striving, 
struggling,  suffering,  and,   finally,  winning.     This 


THE   GLORIFIED  DEAD.  171 

is  what  we  admire.  Now  what  we  admire  we  seek 
to  reproduce,  and  that  we  seek  to  be.  Human 
admirations  are  the  mightiest  of  all  the  forces  for 
the  molding  of  character.  The  heroes  of  the  past 
fill  our  admirations  with  things  that  make  for 
nobility  and  manhood  and  spiritual  power  and 
godlikeness. 

5 .    They  have  left  ?ts  their  grand  zvords. 

Their  words  are  still  with  us,  and  they  are  life 
and  power.  Moses  declares,  "  Man  shall  not  live 
by  bread  alone,  but  by  every  word  which  pro- 
ceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  of  God."  Will  the  time 
ever  come  when  these  words  shall  fail  to  lead  im- 
mortal souls  into  life  and  light?  Joshua  declares, 
"  Not  one  thing  that  God  has  promised  shall  ever 
fail  of  fulfillment."  Can  the  world  ever  forget  that  ? 
David  declares,  "  Though  I  walk  through  the  val- 
ley of  the  shadow  of  death,  I  will  fear  no  evil ;  for 
Thou  art  with  me ;  Thy  rod  and  Thy  staff  they  do 
comfort  me."  Who  that  ever  heard  these  sweet 
words  means  to  let  them  slip?  Mankind  has 
stowed  them  away  down  deep  in  the  recesses 
of  human  nature,  that  they  may  be  used  in  the 
dying  hour.  Such  are  some  of  the  declarations 
which  the  glorified  dead  have  left  behind  them, 
and  each  declaration  is  a  cheer  that  quickens 
the  very  roots  of  our  being,  and  so  vitalizes 
them  that  our  whole  nature  blossoms  and  fruits 
into  lofty  emotions  and  holy  resolutions  and  heroic 
deeds. 


172  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

There  is  another  form  in  which  the  glorified 
dead  help  and  cheer  us ;  it  is  the  second  point  of 
my  sermon. 

II.  They  help  and  cheer  us  by  their  present 
interest  in  us,  and  by  their  present  expectation 
for  us. 

We  have  found  that  the  lives  and  examples 
which  the  glorified  dead  have  left  the  world  show 
the  possibilities  of  those  who  come  after.  This  is 
much.  There  is  vitality  in  this.  It  kindles  cour- 
age and  sustains  hope.  But  this  does  not  cover 
the  whole  teaching  of  my  text.  The  inspired 
writer  declares  that  there  is  far  more  than  this; 
the  glorified  dead  are  not  witnesses  only  in  this 
low  historical  form.  We  are  not  simply  encom- 
passed about  by  them  in  the  narrative  of  the 
eleventh  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews. 
That  is  inadequate  as  an  explanation  of  the  text, 
and  minimizes  the  reward  of  the  glorified,  as  well 
as  lessens  our  possessions.  We  are  compassed 
about  by  them  personally.  This  Scripture  teaches 
that  the  reward  of  faith  lifts  a  true  man  at  death 
to  a  position  from  which  he  can  look  at  the  whole 
course  of  the  history  of  Christ's  people  and  Christ's 
cause,  from  beginning  to  end.  The  text  uses  a 
poetic  figure  to  convey  an  absolute  fact.  The 
figure  is  taken  from  the  Isthmian  games.  The 
racers  are  on  the  ground-floor  of  the  vast  amphi- 
theater, striving  for  the  crown ;  on  all  sides  of  the 
theater  rise  the  great  galleries,  which  are  built  one 


THE    GLORIFIED  DEAD. 


173 


above  another,  tier  on  tier,  forty  rows  high,  almost 
perpendicular.  Out  from  every  seat  in  these  forty 
tiers  looks  a  human  face,  with  eyes  riveted  upon 
the  contestants  below.  These  great  crowds  of 
excited  humanity,  towering  on  every  side,  remind 
one  of  the  multitudinous  and  mountainous  clouds 
which  sometimes  encircle  the  horizon  of  this  earth 
of  ours,  and  throw  up  their  pinnacles  and  beetling 
headlands  into  the  air.  Raphael  introduces  such 
clouds  into  his  pictures ;  but  when  we  look  into 
the  golden  mists  of  Raphael's  pictures,  these  mists 
resolve  themselves  into  multitudes  of  calm  angel- 
faces  looking  down  upon  the  scene. 

This  is  the  figure  used  to  picture  the  glorified 
dead,  and  to  reveal  their  attitude  toward  us.  They 
are  interested  witnesses,  watching  us,  and  knowing 
us,  and  wishing  us  well,  and  rejoicing  in  and  ap- 
proving our  every  right  thought  and  purpose  and 
conquest.  Is  not  this  natural  ?  If  going  to  heaven 
changed  our  friends  and  made  them  indifferent 
to  us,  who  would  wish  to  have  his  friends  go  to 
heaven?  When  our  friends  leave  us  they  do  not 
go  out  of  the  kingdom  of  God ;  they  go  more 
fully  into  the  kingdom  of  God.  They  wave  their 
crowns  to  us,  and  strike  out  from  their  harps  of 
gold  every  chorus  and  melody  which  the  strings 
contain,  to  thrill  us  into  quicker  steps  toward  them. 
Because  their  love  has  been  perfected,  their  inter- 
est in  us  now  is  incomparably  more  intense  than 
ivas  their  interest  during  their  earthly  life. 


174  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

This  teaching  is  not  novel ;  it  is  in  accord  with 
the  whole  trend  of  the  Word  of  God,  as  the  Word 
deals  with  the  relations  between  heaven  and  earth 
and  the  influence  of  each.  Have  you  forgotten 
the  interest  which  those  in  heaven  took  in  the 
transfiguration  scene  on  Mount  Hermon?  Here 
is  plainly  set  forth  both  knowledge  and  interest  in 
heaven  relative  to  the  activities  of  earth.  Have 
you  forgotten  what  the  angel  from  heaven  told 
Cornelius,  the  Roman  centurion?  He  said  that 
the  prayers  and  alms  of  the  Roman  were  be- 
fore God  in  heaven  as  a  memorial  of  the  man. 
Heaven  knew  what  Cornelius  was  doing  and  ap- 
plauded him ;  Heaven  gave  him  a  memorial  even 
while  the  man  was  yet  on  the  earth.  The  people 
whom  he  helped  on  earth  emblazoned  his  deeds 
on  the  streets  of  Jerusalem  above.  Have  you  for- 
gotten the  words  of  the  Son  of  God  concerning 
heaven's  knowledge  of  the  conversions  on  earth? 
"  Likewise,  I  say  unto  you,  there  is  joy  in  heaven 
over  every  sinner  that  repenteth." 

Our  point  is  this :  the  interest  and  expectation 
of  those  who  are  on  the  other  side  of  the  battle- 
ments of  heaven  are  a  help  to  us,  and  a  cheer.  It 
gives  us  pleasure  to  be  able  to  gratify  them  by  our 
well-doing.  We  put  the  thought  of  their  appro- 
bation of  our  true  life  against  the  lust  for  riches, 
and  against  the  words  of  earthly  tempters,  and 
against  the  gratification  of  bodily  pleasures ;  and 
their  approbation  outweighs  these.      It  outweighs, 


THE    GLORIFIED  DEAD.  175 

too,  the  realization  of  all  our  low  ambitions.  The 
thought  of  the  welcome  which  they  will  give  us 
when  they  meet  us  at  the  beautiful  gate  draws  us 
back  from  sin  and  keeps  us  holy. 

Instinctively  we  keep  ourselves  pure  for  them. 
My  fellow-men,  God  puts  a  tremendous  power  for 
good  into  our  lives  when  He  puts  into  them  the 
consciousness  that  the  eyes  of  all  the  good  are 
upon  us  in  the  struggles  of  life.  The  eyes  of  the 
army  of  Israel  resting  upon  David  gave  the  lad 
the  victory  over  the  giant  Goliath. 

Our  Master  serves  us  as  an  illustration  just  here. 
He  shows  us  the  need  of  our  human  nature,  and 
the  way  in  which  approbation  cheers  and  helps. 
His  experience  also  touches  and  illumines  some  of 
the  dark  points  of  the  world  over  yonder.  When 
He  was  fronting  Calvary  with  its  great  battle, 
Moses  and  Elijah  came  to  Him  and  talked  over 
with  Him  the  coming  crisis.  They  told  Him  how 
all  heaven  gathered  with  interest  around  the  cross, 
and  how  the  hosts  of  the  redeemed  before  the 
throne  were  all  looking  to  Him  for  the  confirma- 
tion of  their  salvation,  and  how  all  heaven  was 
expecting  Him  to  be  true.  When  they  left  Jesus 
they  left  Him  with  the  expectation  of  the  glorified 
dead  beating  in  His  soul  as  an  inspiration.  By  the 
stimulus  which  this  gave  Him,  He  went  through 
Gethsemane  and  conquered  on  Calvary.  What 
the  cloud  of  witnesses  did  for  Jesus  the  cloud  of 
witnesses  should  do  for  us,  the  followers  of  Christ. 


I  76  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

Faces  from  this  glorious  cloud  are  looking  earth- 
ward to  see  that  we  carry  to  completion  the  pur- 
poses which  they  left  us,  and  the  plans  which  they 
inaugurated,  and  the  hopes  which  they  cherished. 
I  have  said  a  great  deal  about  the  saints,  and 
about  the  place  which  the  saints  should  have 
in  our  lives.  Let  me  in  closing  urge  something 
for  the  Master.  Above  all  things  we  need  Him 
in  our  lives.  In  running  our  race  we  must  look 
to  Jesus.  Sometimes  in  using  our  other  helps  we 
forget  Him,  and  largely  crowd  Him  out  of  our 
lives  ;  even  the  best  of  men  do  this.  Our  liability 
to  err  here  is  strikingly  set  forth  by  the  noted 
dream  of  Junius,  one  of  the  old,  old  saints  of  by- 
gone years.  Junius  was  perfectly  satisfied  with 
himself  and  with  his  success  in  life.  His  dream 
was  this :  One  night  a  stranger  came  into  his  room 
and  greeted  him  with  a  smile,  and  asked  him, 
"Junius,  how  is  your  zeal?"  Conceiving  of  his 
zeal  as  a  physical  quantity,  Junius  put  his  hand  into 
his  bosom,  and  brought  his  zeal  forth  and  presented 
it  to  the  stranger  for  inspection.  The  stranger  took 
it  and  put  it  into  the  scales  which  he  carried,  and 
carefully  weighed  it.  "  One  hundred  pounds,"  he 
exclaimed.  Junius  was  pleased.  The  stranger, 
pushing  his  investigation  further,  broke  the  mass 
into  atoms,  and  put  all  into  a  crucible,  and  put  the 
crucible  into  the  fire ;  when  the  mass  was  thor- 
oughly fused,  he  took  it  out  and  set  it  down  to 
cool.      It  congealed  in  cooling,  and  when  turned 


THE   GLORIFIED  DEAD.  I  77 

out  on  the  hearth  exhibited  a  series  of  layers 
or  strata,  all  of  which  fell  apart  at  the  touch  of 
the  hammer.  The  stranger  severely  tested  and 
weighed  each,  and  took  careful  notes.  When  he 
had  finished,  he  presented  the  analysis  to  Junius. 
The  paper  of  notes  read  thus :  "Analysis  of  the 
zeal  of  Junius,  a  candidate  for  the  crown  of  glory. 
His  zeal  amounts,  in  all,  to  one  hundred  pounds. 
Bigotry,  ten  pounds ;  personal  ambition,  twenty- 
three  pounds ;  love  of  praise,  nineteen  pounds ; 
pride  of  denomination,  fifteen  pounds  ;  pride  of  tal- 
ent, fourteen  pounds ;  love  of  authority,  twelve 
pounds ;  love  to  fellow-man,  three  pounds ;  love  to 
Jesus  Christ,  four  pounds."  When  he  read  the 
paper,  Junius  was  smitten  with  instantaneous  con- 
viction, and  cried  to  heaven,  "  O  Christ,  take  Junius 
out  of  my  life,  and  put  Thyself  into  it.  Help  me 
to  live  by  Thee  and  for  Thee."  Like  the  recon- 
structed Junius,  we  should  make  Christ  our  goal 
in  life.  The  building  up  of  self,  and  the  winning 
of  the  approbation  of  the  good,  should  be  made 
secondary  and  contributory  to  our  loyalty  to 
Christ. 

The  question  of  application  which  I  wish  to  put 
to  you  is  this :  Are  yon  letting  Christ  into  your 
life  as  the  dominating  influence  ?  If  you  have  not 
hitherto  let  Him  come  in,  let  Him  now  come  in 
with  all  His  light  and  all  His  transforming  power. 
Do  you  know  what  He  will  do  for  you  if  you  let 
Him  come  in?    He  will  teach  you,  first  of  all,  your 


178  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

possibilities ;  He  will  show  you  the  sonship  of  God 
which  belongs  to  you ;  He  will  give  you  the  true 
ideal  of  a  true  life ;  He  will  create  within  you  a 
faith  in  yourself ;  He  will  fill  you  with  His  own 
expectations  with  regard  to  you  ;  He  will  develop 
within  you  a  consciousness  of  power  possessed ; 
He  will  teach  you  large  things,  and  inspire  you  to 
work  toward  them;  He  will  put  an  "Excelsior" 
into  your  heart.  Do  you  not  know  that  in  order 
to  the  uplifting  of  man,  the  very  first  need  is  the 
creation  within  man  of  faith  in  himself,  a  belief  that 
through  the  grace  of  God  he  can  reach  his  highest 
aspirations?  According  to  our  faith,  so  is  it  with 
us.  The  child  that  is  constantly  called  "  dunce  " 
or  "  fool,"  first  suspects  that  he  is  a  "  dunce"  or 
a  "fool,"  then  believes  that  he  is;  and  finally 
comes  to  be  a  "  dunce  "  or  a  "  fool."  There  is  no 
trouble  in  making  a  man  better,  if  he  believes  he 
can  be  made  better,  or  if  he  wishes  to  become 
better.  But  when  he  is  content  to  be  precisely 
what  he  is,  or  when  he  has  lost  faith  in  himself, 
or  sees  no  future  for  himself,  there  is  no  use  in  try- 
ing. The  old  story  connected  with  the  mytholog- 
ical wanderings  of  Ulysses,  as  told  in  the  Odyssey 
of  Homer,  is  in  point  here  as  an  illustration.  A 
number  of  the  companions  of  Ulysses  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  sorceress  Circe  and  were  turned  into 
swine.  If,  in  that  condition,  they  could  have 
remembered  that  they  were  once  men ;  if  they 
could  have  remembered  their  homes,  the  wars  in 


THE    GLORIFIED  DEAD.  179 

which  they  fought,  the  ambitions  and  the  strivings 
of  their  manhood ;  if  they  could  have  desired  to 
return  to  their  country,  and  become  again  some- 
thing more  than  the  occupants  of  a  pen  and  a  bed 
of  straw — then  there  would  have  been  hope  for 
them,  that  they  might  some  day  have  been  deliv- 
ered from  the  power  of  the  sorceress.  But  they 
were  content  to  be  nothing  more  than  swine,  and 
hence  their  case  was  hopeless.  Christ  breaks  the 
spell  of  sin  which  robs  men  of  the  consciousness  of 
what  they  are  and  may  be ;  He  shows  the  human 
race  "  the  Son  of  God,"  which  is  potentially  in 
every  man ;  He  helps  us  to  believe  in  ourselves, 
and  to  aspire  for  ourselves,  and  to  take  an  interest 
in  ourselves. 

My  fellow-men,  it  is  Christ  in  a  man  that  makes 
the  man.  We  need  that  the  fibers  of  our  being 
shall  be  locked  and  interlocked  with  the  fibers  of 
His  being;  then  through  His  working  and  power 
in  us  wonderful  things  will  be  produced.  Thus  it 
was  in  the  past ;  thus  it  will  be  in  the  future.  It 
is  Christ  who  marches  through  the  ages  in  the 
noble  personalities  which  make  the  centuries  grand 
and  sublime.  A  miner's  son,  who  sang  in  the 
streets  for  his  bread,  led  the  Reformation,  and 
unbound  the  Bible  for  the  world.  Christ  made 
Luther!  A  farmer,  with  the  Spirit  of  God  in  him, 
laid  broad  and  deep  the  foundations  of  England's 
liberties.  Christ  made  Cromwell!  A  jail-bird 
was  so  transformed  that  he  was  able  to  write  the 


l8o  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

"  Pilgrim's  Progress."  Christ  made  John  Bunyan! 
A  lonely  man,  with  the  living  Christ  in  his  heart, 
who  died  in  the  heart  of  Africa  upon  his  knees, 
with  his  head  pillowed  upon  the  Bible,  opened  the 
Dark  Continent  to  Christian  civilization.  Christ 
made  David  Livingstone !  If  you  are  to  be  any- 
thing in  the  world,  Christ  must  make  you.  You 
can  succeed  only  by  His  permission  and  help. 
Have  you  let  Him  into  your  life  to  work  and  to 
build  up  and  to  transform?  You  are  neighborly 
with  Him ;  but  that  will  not  do.  He  must  be 
allowed  to  become  something  more  than  your 
neighbor.  He  must  be  admitted  into  your  heart. 
He  must  be  allowed  to  abide  at  the  very  focus  of 
your  being,  and  in  the  very  springs  of  your  life. 
Mere  neighborliness  would  never  have  made  Paul 
or  John.  It  took  personal,  enthusiastic  faith  and 
love  and  surrender  to  make  them.  That  you  may 
reach  the  goal  of  life,  that  you  may  realize  your 
best  possible  self,  that  you  may  be  what  Christ 
can  make  you,  I  call  upon  you  to  make  an  absolute 
surrender  of  your  soul  and  body  and  spirit  to 
Christ.      Open  your  whole  life  to  His  in-coming. 


VIII. 

CRUCIFYING   CHRIST  WHILE  APPROPRIATING 
HIS   ROBES. 


VIII. 

CRUCIFYING     CHRIST    WHILE     APPRO- 
PRIATING   HIS    ROBES. 

"And  they  crucified  Him,  and  parted  His  garments.'''' — Mat- 
thew 27:  35. 

The  story  of  the  cross  is  most  powerfully  told. 
And  yet  it  is  simply  told.  Indeed,  we  might  say 
that  it  is  not  told  at  all.  That  is,  there  is  no  effort 
in  the  telling  of  it.  It  tells  itself.  The  event  car- 
ries in  itself  its  own  power.  I  often  contrast  it  in 
my  own  thought  with  the  way  uninspired  writers 
tell  their  stories. 

For  example,  I  contrast  the  story  of  the  cross, 
as  we  have  it  on  the  Gospel  page,  with  the  address 
of  Mark  Antony  over  the  dead  body  of  Caesar. 
How  dramatic  Mark  Antony  is !  What  effort 
(skilled  effort)  he  puts  forth!  What  labored  peri- 
ods he  utters!  What  a  study  after  effect  he  dis- 
plays !  He  acts ;  he  elocutionizes ;  he  uses  the 
rent  robe  of  Caesar  and  the  dying  will  of  Caesar. 
He  uses  the  dagger  of  Cassius.  He  uses  his  own 
personality,  and  puts  the  crowd  under  the  play  of 

183 


184  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

his  own  agony  and  moves  the  people  by  the  con- 
tagion of  his  own  strong  feeling.  Mark  Antony's 
address  is  passion  at  a  white  heat,  and  the  dead 
body  of  Caesar  owes  two  thirds  of  its  power  to 
that  passion.  It  was  Caesar's  dead  X>o<\y  plus  Mark 
Antony's  burning  words  and  skillful  art  and  deep 
passion  at  a  white  heat  that  moved  Rome  from 
center  to  circumference.  But  you  say,  "  Mark 
Antony  was  full  of  intense  feeling ;  Mark  Antony 
felt  the  death  of  Caesar  down  to  the  core  of  his 
being."  Yes,  no  doubt;  but  Matthew  and  John, 
the  biographers  of  Jesus  Christ,  were  also  full  of 
feeling.  They  felt  the  death  of  Christ  down  to 
the  core  of  their  being.  They  wrote  out  of  an 
anguished  heart.  Yet  there  is  not  a  trace  of  pas- 
sion on  the  sacred  page.  There  is  not  a  word  to 
show  how  they  felt.  There  is  not  a  tear.  There 
is  not  a  single  burst  of  indignation.  There  is  noth- 
ing like  "And  here  ran  Cassias'  dagger  through," 
or  "If  you  have  tears  to  shed,  prepare  to  shed  them 
now." 

To  me  this  is  remarkable.  It  centers  my  atten- 
tion ;  it  sets  me  thinking ;  it  brings  me  face  to  face 
with  the  question,  "  Why  is  this?  "  I  believe  that 
this  is  the  reason  why :  God  wants  us  to  look  at 
the  fact  of  the  crucifixion  of  His  Son  uninfluenced, 
and  so  completely  uninfluenced  that  we  may  come 
to  our  own  unaided  conclusion  with  regard  to  it. 
That  we  may  be  permitted  to  judge  it  unbiased, 
He  keeps  out  of  the  story  all  the  human  passion  of 


CRUCIFYING    CHRIST.  185 

the  narrator  and  compels  us  to  stand  face  to  face 
with  the  fact,  and  with  the  fact  only.  The  Gospel 
narrator  uses  words,  just  as  the  artist  uses  pig- 
ments, and  paints  what  transpires  just  as  it  tran- 
spires. But  he  paints  well.  He  paints  exactly. 
He  puts  the  power  of  life  into  every  picture. 
In  the  crucial  picture,  for  instance,  you  see  the 
crucificial  hammer  strike  the  nail  which  pierces 
Christ's  hands  and  feet,  and  the  blow  is  so  vivid 
that  the  stroke  of  that  crucificial  hammer  is  heard 
not  only  on  the  mountains  of  Palestine,  but  it  echoes 
and  rings  throughout  the  universe.  Every  picture 
pertaining  to  the  cross  is  as  true  to  life  as  this  pict- 
ure is.  All  are  portrayed  with  exactitude,  viz.  : 
the  reeling  earth ;  the  rending  rocks  ;  the  darkened 
sun  ;  the  mocking  Pharisees  ;  the  callous  Romans  ; 
the  weeping  Galilean  women ;  the  unthinking 
crowd  ;  and  the  gambling  soldiers.  All  these  are 
as  vivid  and  as  real  as  the  picture  which  shows  us 
the  blow  driving  the  cruel  nail  through  the  quiver- 
ing flesh. 

But  it  is  my  purpose  in  dealing  with  these  pict- 
ures which  give  us  the  story  of  the  cross,  to  be 
eclectic  and  not  compreJiensive.  We  are  compelled, 
by  the  limit  of  time  at  our  disposal,  to  make  a 
choice,  and  to  confine  our  thoughts  to  that  choice. 
We  choose  but  one  picture,  and  that  the  picture  of 
the  soldiers  iti  their  relation  to  Christ. 

The  story  of  the  soldiers  at  the  cross  is  easily 
told.     They  were  Romans.     They  were  stationed 


I  86  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

at  Jerusalem  in  the  Tower  of  Antonia,  and  were 
the  executioners  of  Roman  law  in  the  province  of 
Judaea.  They  were  men  who  had  no  will  of  their 
own ;  they  were  instruments  in  the  hands  of  those 
who  were  in  authority.  It  was  they  who  drove 
the  nails  and  transfixed  Jesus  to  the  cross ;  but 
they  did  this  at  the  command  of  Pilate,  the  Roman 
governor.  They  had  little  heart  in  the  matter  one 
way  or  the  other.  Their  familiarity  with  such 
scenes  made  them  as  nearly  indifferent  as  it  was 
possible  to  be.  They  were  used  to  shrieks  of  agony, 
and  to  writhing  forms  on  crosses,  and  to  the  white 
emaciated  faces  of  dead  criminals.  Having  cruci- 
fied Christ,  they  had  nothing  further  to  do  but  to 
stand  guard  around  the  cross  until  suffering  had 
issued  in  death.  Yes,  there  was  one  thing  more 
which  they  had  to  do ;  but  it  was  a  thing  which 
was  not  distasteful  to  them — they  had  to  divide 
among  them  the  robes  of  the  Christ  whom  they 
had  just  nailed  to  the  cross.  These  were  theirs  as 
part  of  their  hire  for  the  bloody  work  which  they 
had  done.  They  cared  nothing  for  Christ,  but 
they  did  care  for  His  garments.  While  they  were 
yet  warm  with  the  warmth  of  the  sacred  person  of 
Christ,  and  in  the  presence  of  the  Suffering  One 
who  looked  down  at  them  from  the  cross,  they 
gave  themselves  to  the  task  of  dividing  his  robes, 
and  eagerly  each  soldier  took  his  portion. 

We  can  scarcely  bear  to  think  of  it — these  com- 


CRUCIFYING    CHRIST.  1 87 

mon,  coarse  men  wearing  Christ's  garments.  If 
John  wore  that  seamless  robe,  the  touching  of  the 
hem  of  which  once  gave  health  and  life  to  the  sick 
and  dying,  that  would  be  a  comfort  to  us ;  but 
there  is  a  positive  shock  in  the  thought  that  the 
brutal  Roman  soldier,  who  drove  the  nails  through 
the  quivering  nerves  of  the  Redeemer's  flesh,  should 
publicly  and  boastingly  wear  it  over  his  rough  form 
and  his  heart  of  stone.  There  is  a  resemblance  and 
there  is  a  sympathy  between  John  and  Jesus ;  but 
there  is  neither  resemblance  nor  sympathy  between 
a  Roman  soldier  and  Jesus.  Christ's  robe  worn  by 
the  Roman  soldier  who  crucified  Him !  The  thing 
is  utterly  incongruous.  It  is  mortifying.  It  is 
humiliating.      It  is  startling. 

The  mistake  of  the  soldiers  was  this :  the  gar- 
ments of  Christ  were  everything  to  them,  but  Christ 
Himself  was  nothing  to  them.  They  esteemed 
and  valued  the  garments,  but  despised  the  Christ. 
They  overlooked  the  fact  that  if  there  had  been 
no  Christ  there  would  have  been  no  seamless  robe 
to  appropriate  and  enjoy.  The  robe  without  Christ 
had  a  certain  value,  it  is  true ;  but  with  a  living 
Christ  in  it  it  was  infinitely  more  valuable.  When 
Christ  was  in  the  robe,  it  had  healing  virtue ;  but 
when  Christ  was  crucified,  it  had  no  healing,  life- 
giving  power  whatever. 

There  are  multitudes  to-day  who  are  like  these 
soldiers.     For  example,  there  are  crowds  of  citizens 


1 88  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

in  this  republic  who  glory  in  the  civil  rights  which 
our  national  fathers  bequeathed,  but  they  hate  and 
crucify  the  Christ  of  our  fathers.  It  was  under 
the  inspiration  of  Christ  that  our  fathers  sacrificed 
and  fought  for  the  civil  rights  which  they  be- 
queathed us.  If  there  had  been  no  Christ,  there 
would  have  been  no  Pilgrims  of  Plymouth  Rock, 
and  no  Covenanters  in  the  Carolinas,  and  no  Hu- 
guenots in  New  Jersey,  and  no  Hollanders  in  New 
York.  Without  the  Plymouth  Rock  Pilgrims,  and 
the  Covenanters,  and  the  Huguenots,  and  the  Hol- 
landers, there  would  have  been  no  Revolutionary 
War.  If  there  had  been  no  Revolutionary  War 
there  would  have  been  no  Republic  of  the  United 
States.  There  is  no  fact  more  patent  in  history 
than  this:  American  freedom  ozues  its  origin  to 
Jesus  Christ.  Yet  there  are  Americans  by  the  thou- 
sands who  take  the  freedom  and  crucify  the  Christ. 
But  what  is  freedom  dissociated  from  Christ  ? 
What  is  it  worth  in  comparison  with  freedom  which 
throbs  with  the  life  of  Christ?  Freedom,  when  it 
is  a  robe  with  the  living  Christ  in  it,  will  cure  and 
keep  in  life  the  nations  which  touch  its  hem ;  but 
freedom,  when  it  is  a  robe  torn  from  the  sacred  per- 
son of  Christ  and  with  no  Christ  in  it,  will  let  the 
nations  die,  even  while  they  own  it  and  handle  it 
and  boast  about  it.  As  a  nation  we  needed  Christ 
to  procure  our  liberty,  and  as  a  nation  we  need 
Christ  to  continue  to  us  our  liberty. 

We  can  see  what  God  will  do  for  a  nation  if  we 


CRUCIFYING   CHRIST.  189 

look  into  the  story  of  that  old  historic  nation  of  the 
world,  the  Jewish  nation.  Although  China  is  an 
older  nation  chronologically,  yet  in  comparison 
with  it,  China,  strictly  speaking,  cannot  be  said  to 
have  a  history.  Why  was  the  Jewish  nation  what 
it  was?  Why  did  it  outlive  such  mighty  nations 
as  the  Chaldean,  the  Assyrian,  the  Babylonian,  the 
Phoenician,  the  Egyptian,  the  Grecian,  the  Roman  ? 
The  answer  is,  it  had  a  different  God  from  these 
nations.  Its  God  was  the  one  living  and  true  God. 
The  right  relation  between  us  and  the  true  God, 
that  is  what  makes  the  difference  between  man  and 
man,  and  between  nation  and  nation,  and  between 
civilization  and  civilization.  There  is  everything 
in  the  way  we  treat  God  and  His  Christ. 

Having  sketched  thus  briefly  the  story  of  the 
soldiers  at  the  cross,  it  is  my  purpose  in  this  ser- 
mon to  set  forth  the  fact  that  the  story  of  the  sol- 
diers is  a  parable,  and  the  conduct  of  the  soldiers 
in  appropriating  the  garments  of  Christ  is  a  typical 
and  continuous  act.  The  soldiers  are  an  ancient 
type  of  a  modern  class.  Our  community  is  full  of 
men  and  women  who  prize  and  enjoy  and  appro- 
priate the  blessings  flowing  from  Christ,  whom  to- 
day they  are  crucifying.  I  am  anxious  that  they 
shall  see  this,  and  that  they  shall  in  the  presence 
of  God  answer  to  their  own  souls  such  questions 
as  these:  "  Is  this  right?  "  "  Does  it  accord  with 
the  fitness  of  things?"  "  Is  it  honorable,  as  men 
in  the  common   plane  of   life  judge  things  to  be 


190  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

honorable?  "  "  Is  it  generous?  "  "  Is  it  manly?  " 
"Is  it  square?"  I  am  anxious  that  they  shall 
answer  this  question  also  :  "  Wherein  are  we  differ- 
entiated from  the  Roman  soldiers?  "  I  am  anxious 
that  they  shall  see  what  Christ  is  in  the  world,  and 
what  He  has  done  for  them,  and  what  they  in 
all  fairness  owe  Him.  I  want  to  bring  them  face 
to  face  with  Christ  for  serious,  straightforward 
thought,  and  for  unequivocal  final  decision.  I  am 
seeking  to  make  honest,  whole-hearted  followers 
of  Jesus  Christ.  I  am  seeking  for  enthusiasm, 
faith,  love,  entire  surrender;  and  I  am  seeking 
these  for  One  who  has  earned  them,  and  who  has 
a  right  to  them  from  every  soul  that  lives  in  Chris- 
tendom. 

If  I  am  at  all  to  succeed  in  my  aim,  the  first 
thing  I  must  do  is  this :  enunciate  without  reserve 
this  fact,  viz.  : 

All  wlio  live  in  Christendom  have  to  deal  with 
Christ ;  whether  they  will  or  no,  they  pronounce 
upon  Him  pro  or  con. 

My  fellow-men,  we  are  like  the  people  who 
were  around  the  literal  cross  of  Christ  on  the  literal 
Calvary.  There  is  no  escape  for  us ;  we  are  bound 
either  to  crown  Christ  or  to  crucify  Christ.  If  we 
do  not  the  one,  we  do  the  other. 

I  am  asked :  "  But  would  Jesus  Christ  be  cruci- 
fied over  again  by  the  men  who  once  crucified 
Him? — i.e.,  if  they  were  now  living,  and  if  He 
appeared  in  this  year  A.D.  ?  "      If  not,  it  would  be 


CRUCIFYING    CHRIST.  191 

owing  to  the  influences  which  He  has  left,  and 
which  have  been  enlightening  the  world.  It  would 
be  a  burning  shame  if  He  were.  The  cross  to-day, 
with  Christ  nailed  to  it  by  human  hands,  would  be 
a  greater  crime  than  the  cross  on  Calvary  in  the 
beginning  of  the  Christian  era.  But  I  refuse  to 
answer  this  question  further.  It  is  designed  to 
switch  me  off  from  the  point  which  I  have  in  hand, 
and  which  I  am  pressing  upon  your  hearts  for  rec- 
ognition. The  point  I  am  pressing  is :  We  who 
live  in  Christendom  to-day  have  to  deal  with 
Christ  personally,  and  we  are  morally  identified  in 
spirit  with  the  men  who  dealt  with  Him  in  the 
past.  It  signifies  nothing  what  those  men  would 
do  to-day  were  they  now  living;  we  know  what 
they  did  at  Calvary.  The  nineteenth  century  is 
only  the  echo  of  the  first  century.  What  does 
signify  is  this :  What  are  we  doing  with  Christ  ? 
The  different  characters  around  the  cross  are  all 
duplicated  and  live  on.  Christ  is  nailed  to  the 
cross  to-day.  Some  nail  Him  to  the  cross  of  crit- 
icism, and  crucify  Him  on  the  literary  cross.  Some 
nail  Him  to  the  cross  of  neglect ;  some  nail  Him 
to  the  cross  of  indifference ;  some  nail  Him  to  the 
cross  of  rejection ;  some  nail  Him  to  the  cross  of 
downright  unbelief.  Does  it  make  any  difference 
what  cross  you  nail  Him  to?  Nail  Him  to  any 
cross,  and  it  is  crucifixion,  and  crucifixion  in  any 
form  is  a  treatment  Jesus  Christ  does  not  deserve 
at  your  hands. 


192  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

We  are  something  and  somebody  with  regard 
to  Christ.  This  is  the  point  with  which  we  start 
out.  There  are  some  people  who  would  like  to 
get  rid  of  Christ,  and  they  act  as  though  they  had 
gotten  rid  of  Him.  But  have  they  ?  No,  and 
they  cannot  get  rid  of  Him.  We  have  got  to  take 
our  stand.  We  are  the  Roman  soldiers,  or  the 
deserting  disciples,  or  John  standing  at  the  cross 
full  of  love,  or  Mary  looking  upon  the  scenes  of 
suffering  with  a  broken  heart,  or  the  scribes  and 
Pharisees  and  rulers  mocking  and  jeering.  We 
are  something  and  somebody  with  regard  to  Christ. 

Here  is  a  man  who  says,  "  I  am  free  from  Christ. 
I  have  no  relations  with  Him  whatever.  I  have 
nothing  to  do  with  Him  pro  or  con.  I  am  an 
agnostic ;  a  know-nothing.  I  say  nothing  about 
the  great  questions  of  God  and  of  immortality 
and  of  religion  and  of  morals.  These  religious 
matters  are  as  the  politics  of  the  moon  to  me.  I 
am  busy  with  the  things  of  this  life,  the  things 
present  and  near.  I  have  enough  to  do  to  secure 
for  myself  moderate  success  and  happiness ;  and 
if  I  have  spare  energy  there  are  present  evils 
enough  to  engage  my  attention  without  troubling 
myself  about  such  unknown  and  unknowable 
objects  as  God  and  the  soul.  Concerning  these 
things  I  affirm  nothing,  and  I  deny  nothing." 
Well,  that  is  your  creed ;  and  with  your  creed 
to-day  you  stand  face  to  face  with  Jesus  Christ, 


CRUCIFYING    CHRIST.  1 93 

and  what  does  Christ  say  to  you?  Christ  says 
to  you,  "  O  agnostic,  I  know  something  about 
these  matters.  I  believe  in  God  and  in  the  soul 
and  in  immortality,  and  My  character  and  My 
life  come  out  of  My  faith  in  these  things."  Do 
you  not  see  that  your  creed  is  the  very  opposite 
of  Christ's  creed,  and  that  in  it  you  condemn 
Christ's  creed,  and  pronounce  judgment  upon 
Christ  Himself?  By  your  creed  you  say  in  so 
many  words,  "  Either  Christ  is  a  deceiver,  or  else 
He  is  Himself  self-deceived."  Agnostic,  if  you 
are  right,  Jesus  Christ  is  wrong.  Your  agnosti- 
cism, for  which  you  claim  such  neutrality,  keeps 
Him  out  of  your  life,  and  bolts  the  door  of  your 
heart  in  His  face.  Your  agnosticism  is  not  one 
whit  better  than  downright  and  outright  unbelief. 
It  bars  the  door  of  your  nature  against  Christ.  He 
who  bars  the  door  of  his  nature  and  life  against 
Christ  rejects  Christ,  denies  Christ,  crucifies  Christ. 
It  is  impossible  for  us  to  get  away  from  the  words 
of  Christ  Himself  on  this  matter :  "He  that  is  not 
for  Me  is  against  Me." 

But  why  should  we  wish  to  get  away  from 
Christ?  Or  why  should  we  seek  escape  from 
decision  with  regard  to  Him?  He  is  God's  best 
gift  to  the  world,  and  loyal  alliance  with  Him  is 
the  highest  destiny  that  any  man  can  reach. 

Let  us  spend  the  rest  of  our  time  in  looking  at 
Jesus  and  at  the  blessings  which  He  is  constantly 


194  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

scattering  around  us,  and  which  we  are  appropri* 
ating  and  using  even  while  we  are  refusing  to  do 
our  full  duty  to  Him ! 

i.  C J  wist  Jesus  Hi  vise  If,  His  simple  existence, 
is  the  first  blessing  which  I  ask  yon  to  tliink  about. 

There  are  men  whose  very  being  is  a  blessing 
to  the  community.  They  are  like  a  beautiful 
woman  whose  beauty  is  all  the  argument  she 
needs  for  existing.  What  they  are  in  themselves 
is  an  inspiration  and  an  uplift.  Christ  stands  at 
the  head  of  this  class.  He  walked  our  earth  as 
a  perfect  man.  He  brought  into  the  midst  of 
humanity  a  perfect  ideal ;  and  what  is  more,  He 
embodied  that  perfect  ideal  in  a  complete  and  fully 
rounded  perfect  life.  It  is  something  to  have 
some  one  do  that.  It  is  something  to  have  some 
one  beyond  and  above  us,  showing  us  the  grand 
possibilities  of  human  nature,  and  calling  us  up- 
ward and  on.  The  powerful  manhood  of  Christ, 
the  transparent  sweetness  and  gentleness  of  His 
impulses  and  actions,  have  magnetized  the  human 
imagination  and  have  kindled  the  loftiest  aspirations 
toward  His  majestic  symmetry.  The  Son  of  God 
blessed  the  world  by  simply  becoming  incarnate, 
by  being  what  He  was :  so  rich  and  so  unchange- 
able and  so  disinterested  in  His  lo.ve ;  so  pure  and 
so  holy  and  so  unselfish  in  His  desires ;  so  noble, 
so  lofty,  and  so  self-sacrificing  in  His  aims;  so  full 
of  deeds  that  were  absolutely  God-like ;  and  so 
beautifully    full   and    complete   in    His   character. 


CRUCIFYING   CHRIST.  195 

His  bare  existence,  the  fact  that  He  was,  gave  the 
world  of  mankind  such  an  uplifting  vision  of  what 
men  ought  to  be,  and  of  what  God  wants  them  to 
be,  that  no  power  can  ever  quench  the  new-born 
ambition  in  the  human  race.  It  is  impossible  for 
the  world  ever  to  be  the  same  as  it  was  before 
Jesus  Christ  came.  Now,  there  is  not  a  soul  in 
Christendom  to-day  but  knows  of  the  existence  oi 
Jesus  Christ — who  He  was,  and  what  He  was; 
there  is  no  soul  in  Christendom  that  has  not 
touched  Him  in  history,  and  that  has  not  received 
from  that  touch  a  vision,  a  new  life,  which  will 
never  allow  the  soul  to  be  contented  with  the  low 
plane  in  which  it  was  before  it  touched  Christ  and 
caught  a  glimpse  through  Christ  of  what  it  is  pos- 
sible for  human  nature  to  become.  My  point  is 
this :  My  fellow-men,  give  Jesus  Christ  all  that  it 
is  possible  for  you  to  give  Him,  do  for  Him  all 
that  it  is  possible  for  you  to  do  for  Him,  and  you 
never  can  repay  Him  for  the  results  that  have 
come  to  you  through  that  touch.  This  blessing  of 
which  we  speak,  viz.,  coming  into  intellectual  con- 
tact with  Christ,  is  a  blessing  given  to  all  who  live 
in  Christendom  and  who  do  nothing  more  than 
read  the  story  of  the  Christ ;  but  it  is  a  blessing 
beyond  the  power  of  our  ability  to  repay. 

2.  /  ask  you  to  think  about  a  second  blessing, 
via.,  the  knoxvledge  which  Christ  brouglit  with 
Him  into  the  world — a  knoivledge  which  no  other 
one  could  or  did  brine:. 


196  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

We  forget  what  we  owe  Jesus  by  way  of  knowl- 
edge. We  forget  how  He  feeds  the  inner  and 
better  man.  We  forget  how  He  gives  us  true 
and  high  views  of  God.  To  magnify  the  value  of 
Jesus  in  this  regard,  God  gave  the  world  a  chance 
to  do  its  best  before  He  sent  His  son.  He  gave 
the  human  race  four  thousand  years  to  demonstrate 
that  it  had  no  need  of  Jesus  Christ,  that  it  could 
climb  to  spiritual  heights  alone.  He  gave  men 
four  thousand  years  to  prove  that  human  nature 
was  enough  and  sufficient  in  itself  to  work  out  the 
highest  wisdom,  to  find  out  God,  to  build  the 
institutions  mankind  needed,  to  get  man  into  right 
relationships  with  his  fellow-man,  to  crush  all  evil 
out  of  existence,  to  develop  the  human  heart,  and 
to  inaugurate  the  reign  of  universal  love.  Were 
not  four  thousand  years  sufficient?  If  not,  how 
much  time  would  you  ask  ?  Four  thousand  years 
were  amply  sufficient ;  they  were  far  more  than 
enough  for  human  nature  to  work  out  all  its  pos- 
sibilities and  leave  absolutely  nothing  for  Christ  to 
do  when  He  came — i.e.,  if  human  nature  in  itself 
were  sufficient  without  Christ. 

No  brighter  eras  of  mere  human,  uninspired, 
intellectual  achievements  have  since  appeared  than 
the  ages  of  Pericles  and  Augustus.  The  lays  of 
Homer  and  of  Virgil ;  the  orations  of  Demos- 
thenes and  of  Cicero ;  the  histories  of  Thucydides 
and  of  Tacitus ;  the  Parthenon,  the  Venus  de 
Medici,  and  the  Apollo  Belvidere — these  are  all 


CRUCIFYING    CHRIST.  197 

ideal  types  in  literature  and  in  art.  "  Yet  the  world 
by  wisdom  knew  not  God."  The  beautiful  was 
there  in  the  past,  but  it  lacked  the  good  and  the 
true.  The  regalement  of  the  life  of  sense  was  all 
and  in  all  in  the  civilization  before  Christ.  There 
was  no  provision  for  the  wants  of  the  inner  man. 
There  was  no  emphasis  of  the  fatherhood  of  God. 
There  was  no  dogmatic,  unequivocal  assertion  of 
the  immortality  of  the  soul.  There  was  no  enun- 
ciation or  embodiment  in  the  affairs  of  life  of  the 
grand  universal  brotherhood  of  man.  By  the  way 
of  a  god  there  was  nothing  better  than  Jupi- 
ter. Man  was  not  treated  in  a  way  worthy  of  his 
divine  sonship.  It  was  Jesus  Christ  who  created 
enthusiasm  for  humanity.  It  was  Jesus  Christ  who 
discovered  and  proclaimed  the  worth  of  the  indi- 
vidual. It  was  He  who  taught  that  each  man  is 
a  son  of  God  and  should  be  treated  according  to 
this  high  view.  He  should  not  be  a  slave  in  any 
form.  He  should  be  a  free  man.  It  is  from  Christ 
that  we  learn  to  see  the  value  of  man,  and  to  pity 
the  needs  of  man,  and  to  comfort  the  sorrows  of 
man,  and  to  feel  the  brotherhood  of  the  race.  He 
lived  for  man,  taught  man,  and  died  for  man. 

The  complete  knowledge  which  Jesus  brought 
with  Him — whence  was  it  ?  Whence  ?  We  know 
how  we  acquire  knowledge.  We  painfully  pick  it 
up  amid  what  survives  of  the  past.  Babylonian 
bricks,  Sinaitic  rocks,  Assyrian  remains,  contribute 
slowly,  under  torture,  to  add  to  our  stock  of  knowl- 


198  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

edge.  But  whence  had  this  man  wisdom  ?  Nine- 
teen hundred  years  after  His  ascension,  the  world 
knows  no  religious  thought  that  was  not  embraced 
in  what  He  taught.  We  ransack  the  great  relig- 
ions which  have  a  history  and  a  literature,  and  dis- 
cover not  a  single  addition  to  the  world's  stock  of 
religious  thought  since  the  close  of  the  revelation 
of  Jesus  Christ.  With  all  the  discoveries  of  the 
modern  centuries  we  have  not  been  able  to  find 
a  substitute  for,  or  to  supplant  the  teachings  of, 
the  New  Testament.  In  every  point  of  morals,  as 
in  every  phase  of  theology,  Christ  is  the  world's 
master.  "  He  has  beggared  the  past  and  bank- 
rupted the  future." 

Do  you  not  see  how  He  has  blessed  us  in  all 
this?  In  giving  us  the  true  He  has  blessed  us  by 
saving  us  from  the  false  and  imperfect.  By  giving 
us  Himself  He  has  saved  us  from  Zoroaster  and 
Confucius  and  Buddha  and  Mohammed.  Who 
would  have  these  men  rule  and  reign  in  America? 
Who  wants  to  believe  in  their  prescribed  life  and 
in  the  heaven  which  they  teach  shall  follow  it? 
Who  wants  the  civilization  which  they  produce? 
There  is  not  a  man  here  to-day  who  does  not  find 
his  protection  from  these  in  Jesus  Christ.  Even 
those  of  you  who  have  not  yet  owned  Christ  and 
acknowledged  His  claims  upon  you  are  blessed  by 
Christ  in  this  regard.  The  greatness  of  the  bless- 
ing which  you  thus  receive  is  to  be  measured  by 
the  difference  between    native  China   and    native 


CRUCIFYING    CHRIST.  199 

India  and  native  Persia  and  native  Turkey,  and 
Christian  America  with  its  laws  and  liberties. 

3.  The  tliird  blessing  which  I  ask  you  to  tJiink 
about  is  great  Christendom.  The  gift  of  Christ  to 
the  world  is  Christendom. 

That  I  may  not  double  the  track  which  is  so 
often  followed  in  treating  this  point,  let  me  enu- 
merate at  this  time  some  features  of  Christendom 
not  usually  named  or  considered. 

Among  the  distinguishing  characteristics  of 
Christendom  is  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  and  its 
achievements.  We  are  Anglo-Saxons,  and  we 
are  proud  of  it.  But  who  made  our  race  what  it 
is,  and  who  blessed  it  with  the  blessings  which  we 
enjoy  ?  Before  Christ  found  our  fathers,  the  people 
of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  were  a  set  of  heathen. 
There  was  a  time  when  the  Angles  were  sold 
under  the  hammer  in  the  slave-marts  of  Britain. 
We  talk  of  this  race  as  the  dominant  race,  the 
master  race  of  the  world.  We  tell  of  its  achieve- 
ments in  England  and  in  Germany  and  in  America ; 
and  these  are  marvelous  as  compared  with  the 
achievements  of  other  races.  We  predict  for 
it  a  glowing  future  in  numbers,  in  civilization, 
in  religion,  in  discoveries  and  inventions,  in 
the  progress  of  freedom,  and  in  the  rule  and 
supremacy  of  ideas.  No  doubt  this  future  will  be 
realized  in  a  large  degree  ;  but  it  will  be  realized 
because  of  the  largeness  of  Christ's  identification 
with  the  An«do-Saxon  race.      It  is  a  race  full  of 


200  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

Christ.  It  is  a  race  penetrated  and  interpene- 
trated with  the  ideas  of  Christianity,  and  with  the 
social  forces  of  Christianity,  and  with  the  ethical 
results  of  Christianity.  The  race  is  one  of  Christ's 
historic  miracles — a  very  incarnation  of  Christ  in 
civilization.  You  know  that  England  was  not  re- 
claimed from  barbarism  until  the  conversion  of  her 
Saxon  conquerors  in  the  sixth  century  to  Chris- 
tianity. When  by  the  preaching  of  the  Word  the 
fierce  tribes  of  Hengist  and  Horsa  were  persuaded 
to  exchange  their  dark  idol-prayers  and  their 
hoarse  battle-cry  for  the  hallelujahs  of  the  Christian 
worship — then,  and  only  then,  did  the  "  Sceptered 
Isle"  enter  upon  that  career  which  made  it  what 
it  is  to-day. 

If  there  is  such  a  thing  as  "  a  natural  law  of 
historic  progress,"  and  if  that  is  all-sufficient  as  an 
explanation  of  the  progress  of  civilization,  as  such 
writers  as  Hegel  and  Comte  and  Buckle  contend, 
how  shall  we  solve  the  problem  of  the  present  con- 
dition of  China  and  Hindustan  when  we  compare 
them  with  Britain  and  Germany?  In  China  and 
Hindustan  letters  and  philosophy  flourished  in  the 
remote  ages  when  the  cruel  rites  of  Druidism  were 
practiced  in  Britain,  and  when  the  savage  tribes 
who  inhabited  Germany  worshiped  Odin  and  Thor. 
To  what  can  we  refer  the  present  differences  be- 
tween these  countries?  To  what  but  to  the  influ- 
ence of  Christ  ?    To  Christ  absent  from  the  former ; 


CRUCIFYING    CHRIST.  201 

to  Christ  present  with  the  latter.  There  is  not  a 
worshiper  in  the  Christian  temple  to-day  but  en- 
joys the  blessings  which  come  through  the  proud 
Anglo-Saxon  race.  Are  you  ready  to  acknowl- 
edge in  God's  way  the  origin  of  these  blessings 
which  you  appropriate  ?  Are  you  willing  to  do 
your  duty  by  Christ,  and  help  keep  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  race  in  living  and  loyal  union  with  the  only 
source  of  its  blessings  ? 

4.  /  would  mention  just  here  another  blessing 
which  pertains  to  us  as  inhabitants  of  Christendom. 
It  is  this  :  the  grand  humanities  which  character- 
ize our  age. 

But  I  am  asked,  What  is  your  proof  that  these 
pertain  to  Christ?  I  answer,  This  is  my  proof: 
these  did  not  exist  before  Christ.  Search  the 
Byzantine  chronicles  and  the  pages  of  Publius 
Victor,  and  though  the  one  describes  all  the  public 
edifices  of  ancient  Constantinople,  and  the  other 
those  of  ancient  Rome,  not  a  word  is  to  be  found 
in  either  of  a  charitable  institution.  Search  the 
ancient  marbles  in  the  museums  of  the  world,  de- 
scend and  ransack  the  graves  of  Herculaneum  and 
Pompeii,  question  the  travelers  who  have  visited 
the  ruins  of  the  cities  of  Greece  and  Rome,  and  in 
vain  will  you  seek  for  the  report  of  a  single  public 
institution  of  mercy  built  and  supported  for  the 
alleviation  of  human  want  and  misery.  These 
things  in  the  life  of  mankind  and  in  the  history  of 


202  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

the  world  follow  the  cross  of  Jesus  Christ.  Yet 
there  are  men  by  the  thousands  who  fill  these  in- 
stitutions and  crucify  Christ. 

"  But  do  we  not  find  to-day,  and  in  America, 
humanities  pushed  and  supported  by  those  who 
refuse  allegiance  to  Christ?  "  That  is  a  fair  ques- 
tion. And  I  answer  it  fairly.  Yes,  a  few ;  a 
very  few.  "How,  then,  do  you  explain  these?" 
Where  these  exist  with  any  vitality,  I  give  the 
credit  of  them  to  Christ.  I  do  so  because  they 
are  pushed  and  supported  in  Christian  America. 
I  recognize  some  people  to  be  for  Christ  who  be- 
lieve themselves  to  be  against  Him.  They  have 
more  Christianity  than  they  suppose.  Christianity 
is  in  the  atmosphere,  and  they  breathe  it  uncon- 
sciously. Often  those  who  boast  most  loudly  of 
their  independence  of  our  Lord  owe  the  whole  for- 
mation of  their  life  and  character  to  His  influence. 
They  read  the  Bible  in  their  youth  and  absorbed 
its  precepts,  and  now,  later  in  life,  they  forget 
their  indebtedness.  They  are  living  in  the  after- 
glow of  Christian  sentiment.  Let  these  go  out  of 
America,  out  from  the  sunlight  of  Christendom, 
and  set  up  their  claims  and  push  their  humanities 
and  endeavor  to  bless  nations  where  there  are  no 
humanities,  and  they  will  see  just  how  long  their 
humanities  will  last.  But  I  must  not  waste  time 
with  these.  At  best  they  are  "only  an  invisible 
drop  in  the  bucket. 

My  friend,  who  is  at  the  head  of  the  city  mis- 


CRUCIFYING    CHRIST.  203 

sion  work  of  New  York,  told  me  that  he  once  met 
some  people  of  this  order,  and  he  put  them  and 
their  boasting  to  a  practical  test  by  giving  them 
city  mission  work  to  do.  But  the  result  was  they 
proved  to  be  all  sentiment  and  nothing  else,  and 
soon  evaporated  from  the  field.  They  were  cult- 
ured in  liberal  thinking.  They  were  ethical  and 
aesthetic  and  what  not.  The  blood  of  Christ! 
Oh,  they  could  not  bear  to  talk  of  such  a  thing. 
The  deity  of  Christ!  That,  of  course,  was  a 
myth.  Christ  was  a  good  man — yes,  that  was  it 
exactly.  Like  Cain,  the  first  man  who  pooh- 
poohed  at  the  sacrifice  of  blood,  they  fussed 
aesthetically  around  the  altar  and  tastefully  ar- 
ranged flowers  and  fruits  there — i.e.,  they  gave  a 
sewing  lesson  on  fancy  work  to  a  half- clad  woman, 
and  they  tried  to  teach  some  poor  girls  popular 
airs ;  but  of  nursing  the  sick  and  of  doing  the  real 
needed  things  demanded  in  a  New  York  tene- 
ment they  got  heartily  tired  in  a  single  week,  and 
then  petered  out.  I  tell  you  that  the  real  spirit  of 
downright  humanities  is  not  in  such  people,  boast 
as  they  may,  and  it  is  not  in  them  because  Jesus 
Christ  in  His  fullness  is  not  in  them.  Christ  with 
His  deity  and  Christ  with  His  cross  is  not  in  them  ; 
and  no  one  who  is  minus  the  cross  and  minus  the 
deity  of  Jesus  Christ  is  able  for  any  kind  of  endur- 
ing work  which  requires  whole-hearted  and  con- 
tinuous self-sacrifice. 

5.   /  can  only  mention   one  additional  blessing 


204  0UR  BEST  MOODS. 

which  comes  to  ?is  from  our  accidental  relations 
with  Christendom.  It  is  this  :  the  men  and  women 
with  whom  ive  associate  and  who  enter  into  our 
friendships  are  largely  Christian. 

There  are  no  friendships  like  the  friendships  of 
our  homes.  Now,  Christ  made  the  ideal  home  of 
America.  He  set  the  value  upon  the  child  there, 
and  He  set  the  value  upon  woman  there.  Love  in 
the  home  has  its  highest  play  only  when  Christ 
is  living  in  the  heart  of  husband  and  wife,  father 
and  mother,  son  and  daughter,  brother  and  sister. 
Christ  is  blessing  you  through  your  home  to-day. 

What  we  say  of  our  homes  we  may  say  of  our 
business  alliances.  When  the  honor  and  integ- 
rity and  consideration  and  truthfulness  which  are 
inculcated  by  Jesus  Christ  are  in  them,  they  are 
pleasant  and  enjoyable.  The  men  whom  we  se- 
cretly admire  in  business,  and  with  whom  we  de- 
light to  do  business,  are  the  men  who  conduct 
business  as  nearly  as  possible  upon  the  principles 
which  are  known  to  be  Christian. 

My  fellow-men,  Christ  Jesus  is  meeting  us  on 
all  hands,  and  dealing  with  us,  and  influencing  us, 
and  molding  us,  by  means  of  and  through  our 
Christian  friends,  the  men  and  women  in  whom 
He  dwells  and  through  whom  He  finds  a  constant 
outlet.  Through  them  there  come  to  us  day  after 
day  gracious  and  strong  and  inspiring  exhibitions 
of  the  love  and  truth  of  Christ.  They  are  Christ 
reborn  and  living  again  among  us.      In  them  God 


CRUCIFYING   CHRIST.  205 

is  felt  and  admired  and  loved.  They  have  so 
united  their  lives  with  Christ  that  it  is  no  longer 
they  who  live,  but  Christ  who  lives  in  them.  They 
are  gateways  to  Christ,  and  in  them  we  are  dealing 
with  all  that  is  lovely  and  grand  in  Christ,  even 
when  we  wist  not.  They  are  Christ's  living  epis- 
tles. Contact  with  them  is  touching  the  hem  of 
Christ's  garment,  and  we  receive  by  the  contact 
healing  and  purifying  virtue. 

In  looking  at  what  we  receive  by  absorption 
through  our  daily  contact  with  Christian  men  and 
women,  I  can  understand  the  answer  which  an 
eminent  American  woman  gave  to  one  who  asked 
her  the  question,  "  What  was  the  most  influential 
sight  you  saw  in  Europe  when  there  ?  "  Her  reply 
was,  " Lucretia  Mott."  She  had  met  Lucretia 
Mott,  another  American  woman,  and  she  had  heard 
her  plead  the  cause  of  those  who  were  in  chains, 
and  she  had  felt  the  power  of  her  great  Christ  soul. 
Lucretia  Mott  had  done  more  to  mold  her  life  than 
all  the  galleries  and  cathedrals  and  mountains  and 
cities  of  Europe  combined.  My  fellow-men,  it  is 
in  our  friendships  with  the  Christians  about  us  that 
we  find  an  outlet  for  our  better  nature  and  a  sup- 
port for  our  higher  life.  It  is  these  friends  who 
interpret  Christ  to  us,  and  make  real  and  tangible 
His  ideals,  and  in  them  Christ  is  most  potent.  In 
fhem  we  have  the  truth  personified,  living,  walk- 
ing, speaking,  loving.  They  are  proofs  of  the 
reality  of  God  and  of  Christ,  and  of  the  adaptabil- 


206  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

ity  of  the  Christian  religion  to  all  the  spheres  of 
our  life.  There  is  not  one  of  us  but  is  blest  in  a 
hundred  ways  by  the  lives  and  the  loves  and  the 
principles  and  the  examples  of  Christian  men  and 
women  who  are  Christ's  representatives  on  earth. 
The  question  is,  Are  you  willing  to  acknozvledge 
your  indebtedness  to  Christ  for  these  men  and 
ivomen  by  means  of  whom  Christ  is  blessing  you  ? 
When  Christ  Jesus  looks  down  from  the  cross,  in 
what  attitude  does  He  see  you  ?  Does  He  be- 
hold you  appropriating  His  robes  while  you  are 
crucifying  Him?  You  should  seek  to  be  worthy 
of  wearing  the  Master's  garments.  I  do  not  blame 
you  for  taking  the  blessings  of  Christ ;  but  I  do 
blame  you  for  refusing  to  identify  yourself  with 
Christ  your  benefactor,  and  giving  Him  and  His 
cause  in  return  the  whole  power  of  your  life  and 
personality. 

The  duty  which  I  have  now  to  press  home  upon 
you  is  the  duty  of  gratitude.  For  the  blessings 
which  you  receive  from  Christ  you  owe  Him  the 
payment  of  a  debt  of  gratitude.  And  no  one 
is  exempt,  for  there  is  not  a  soul  in  Christen- 
dom that  is  unblessed  of  Christ.  It  is  our  duty 
not  only  not  to  crucify  Him,  but  it  is  our  duty  to 
crown  Him.  We  crown  Washington ;  we  crown 
Jefferson;  we  crown  Lincoln;  why  not  Christ? 

I  have  seen  the  members  of  a  family  lovingly 
and  daily  care  for  the  old  canary,  which  was  blind 
and  paralyzed  and  voiceless  and  featherless  and 


CRUCIFYING    CHRIST.  207 

songless.  Why  ?  Because  it  had  once  filled  the 
home  with  music  and  had  made  the  air  vibrate 
with  its  warbling  trills.  The  treatment  given  the 
old  bird  was  only  common  decency.  Why  not 
treat  Christ  with  decency  ?  You  wear  the  robes 
of  His  blessing :  honor  Him  for  these ;  serve  Him 
in  return  for  these ;  show  your  gratitude  for  these. 
Away  with  your  poverty  of  conception  concerning 
Jesus  Christ ;  bring  into  your  souls  this  very  day 
the  fullness  of  knowledge.  Learn  who  He  is,  and 
what  He  has  done,  and  what  He  stands  ready  to 
do.  We  owe  Him  the  Christian  atmosphere  which 
we  all  breathe.  Every  garment  of  civilization 
worth  wearing  belongs  to  Him.  While  we  take 
the  garments  let  us  take  the  Christ  also.  In  the 
matter  of  blessing  He  is  the  great  unknown  quan- 
tity of  the  future.  He  still  has  as  His  reserve  the 
twelve  legions.  You  need  Him  and  His  fullness. 
Take  Him,  and  publicly  credit  Him  for  all  you 
receive  from  Him. 


IX. 


THINGS  OF  CHILDHOOD   TO  BE  CARRIED 
INTO  MATURE  LIFE. 


IX. 


THINGS    OF    CHILDHOOD   TO    BE    CAR- 
RIED   INTO    MATURE    LIFE. 

"And  Jesus  called  a  little  child  unto  Him,  and  set  him  in  the 
midst  of  them,  and  said,  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  Except  ye  be  con- 
verted, and  become  as  little  children,  ye  shall  twt  enter  into  the  king- 
dom of  heaven.'" — Matthew  18  :  2,  3. 

THERE  is  nothing  in  my  text  that  stands  in  the 
way  of  growth.  Growth  is  the  law  of  all  living 
and  healthful  being.  Life  and  growth,  strength 
and  growth,  are  forever  inseparable.  There  is  one 
thing  that  is  an  utter  impossibility  in  this  universe, 
and  that  is  a  vigorous,  robust  life  at  a  standstill. 

There  is  nothing  in  my  text,  when  rightly  inter- 
preted, that  contradicts  other  utterances  of  Script- 
ure which  require  a  fully  developed  manhood  and 
womanhood.  The  text  does  not  clash  with  the 
Excelsior  which  God  has  implanted  in  every  human 
heart.  It  does  not  conflict  with  Paul's  utterance 
in  the  thirteenth  chapter  of  First  Corinthians, 
where  he  says :  "  When  I  was  a  child,  I  spake  as 
a  child,  I  understood  as  a  child,  I  thought  as  a 
child :   but   when    I   became   a  man,  I   put   away 


212  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

childish  things."  It  does  not  war  with  the  ideal 
which  Paul  sets  before  us  in  the  fourth  chapter  of 
Ephesians.  where  he  says :  "  We  must  all  grow  till 
we  come  in  the  unity  of  the  faith,  and  of  the 
knowledge  of  the  Son  of  God,  unto  a  perfect  man, 
unto  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fullness  of 
Christ."  Christianity  will  always  have  its  ideals, 
and  these  will  always  be  in  advance  of  man,  and 
will  always  act  as  a  heavenly  voice  calling  man  on 
and  up.  When  Christianity  ceases  to  lead  human- 
ity, it  will  die,  and  it  should  die.  My  text  argues 
simply  that  the  best  of  childhood  be  carried  into 
manhood ;  just  as  in  nature  that  which  is  essential 
in  the  blossom  is  carried  forward  and  embodied  in 
the  fruit. 

Childhood  as  enjoined  in  the  text  is  a  quality 
rather  than  a  condition;  a  quality  rather  tJian  a 
stage  of  life.  Childhood  as  a  quality  can  grow 
and  develop  into  a  stalwart  manhood  and  into  a 
magnificent  womanhood ;  but  childhood  as  a  con- 
dition, childhood  as  a  stage  of  life,  must  always 
remain  a  childhood  with  its  limitations.  It  is  not 
the  will  of  God  that  childhood  as  a  condition  shall 
remain.  It  is  His  decree  that  the  infant  shall 
remain  an  infant  only  for  a  very  little  time.  He 
has  given  this  commission  to  all  the  laws  that 
govern  human  life,  viz.  :  "O  ye  laws  that  gov- 
ern human  life,  and  that  operate  to  fulfill  My 
will,  see  to  it  that  the  little  girl  with  the  flowing 
ringlets  shall  be  a  wayfarer  in  the  home  only  for 


THINGS   OF  CHILDHOOD.  213 

the  night ;  start  her  in  the  morning  on  her  jour- 
ney toward  womanhood.  And  see  to  it  also  that 
the  sunny  little  boy  in  the  home  shall  keep  her 
company,  pressing  on  his  way  toward  manhood." 
There  is  nothing  so  magnetic  or  so  influential  in 
the  home  as  a  babe,  and  sometimes  we  feel  like 
keeping  it  a  babe  always.  But  that  is  not  the  will 
of  God.  The  baby  says  such  pretty  things,  and 
has  such  cunning  ways,  and  the  touch  of  its  little 
hand  is  so  soft,  and  the  sound  of  its  little  voice  is 
so  sweet,  and  its  little  face  with  dimpled  cheeks 
and  curling  lips  is  so  full  of  beauty,  and  there  is 
such  a  charm  in  its  tiny  fingers  and  in  its  little 
round  arms  and  in  its  little  pink  feet  without  a  line 
of  world's  wear,  and  it  is  so  graceful  and  charming 
in  all  its  movements,  that  the  whole  family  goes 
baby-mad  and  votes  unanimously  that  the  babe 
shall  always  be  a  babe.  But  such  is  not  the  will 
of  God.  _  With  God  there  is  no  legitimate  ulti- 
matum this  side  of  perfect  manhood  and  perfect 
womanhood.  Each  child  comes  into  the  world 
charged  with  a  manifold  life,  gifted  and  dowered 
with  faculties  and  forces  and  sublime  possibilities, 
and  these  faculties  and  forces  must  be  used  and 
enlarged,  and  these  possibilities  must  be  reached. 

Let  me  particularize.  We  would  not  have  our 
children  remain  stationary  in  knowledge,  neither 
would  we  remain  stationary  ourselves.  We  would 
grow  and  have  them  grow  in  all  knowledge,  but  es- 
pecially in  the  knowledge  of  God.     Paul,  who  com- 


214  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

mands  us  in  these  words,  "  Brethren,  be  children  in 
malice,"  in  the  very  same  verse,  and  with  the  very 
same  dip  of  the  pen,  writes,  "  But  in  understanding 
be  men."  That  is  precisely  what  we  feel,  and 
that  is  exactly  the  way  we  would  word  our  feel- 
ing. There  is  a  vast  growth  of  knowledge  possible 
to  us  the  moment  we  come  into  this  life,  and  it  is 
our  ambition  to  enter  upon  this  growth.  Espe- 
cially should  we  wish  to  grow  in  our  knowledge  of 
God.  The  deepest  cry  of  our  soul  should  be  this  : 
"We  would  know  more  of  God."  Even  with  the 
most  advanced  Christian  there  is  large  desire  for 
growth  in  the  God-knowledge. 

Hear  a  parable.  A  living  infant  in  the  arms  of 
its  dead  mother  was  rescued  from  a  raft  which 
drifted  ashore  after  the  wrecking  of  a  ship.  Its 
father  was  supposed  to  have  gone  down  with  the 
ship.  The  infant  grew  into  a  lad,  and  the  lad 
grew  into  a  man,  because  of  the  care  of  the  kind- 
hearted  strangers  who  rescued  him.  As  his  facul- 
ties matured,  he  began  to  notice  that  other  boys 
had  fathers,  and  reasoned  himself  into  the  belief 
that  he  too  had  a  father.  Then  he  was  told  that 
his  father  had  perished  in  the  wreck.  When  he 
grew  larger  he  longed  to  have  a  more  definite 
conception  of  his  father  whom  he  had  never  seen. 
Very  naturally  he  concluded  that  by  heredity  some 
likeness  of  his  father  was  in  himself.  And  so, 
standing  before  the  mirror,  he  conceived  and  de- 
fined to  himself  his  father's  appearance  from  his 


THINGS   OF  CHILDHOOD.  215 

own  image  in  the  glass.  These  were  his  words : 
"  Like  me,  he  was  five  feet  and  ten  inches  in 
height,  slight,  with  dark-brown  hair,  gray  eyes, 
solitary  in  his  habits,  and  given  to  abstract  think- 
ing and  imagining."  His  conceptions  were  partly 
correct  and  partly  erroneous. 

Like  this  orphan,  we  are  striving  after  a  true 
and  a  large  knowledge  of  God.  But  we  are  seeing 
in  or  through  a  glass  darkly.  We  reason  from 
ourselves  up  to  God.  We  fasten  our  attention  on 
the  highest  and  best  in  us,  and  we  say,  "  God  is 
like  the  best  in  us."  We  have  had  our  child- 
knowledge  of  Him,  and  we  have  broadened  this 
knowledge  from  a  child-knowledge  into  a  man- 
knowledge.  But  still  we  need  to  grow  in  our 
ideas.  It  would  never  do  for  us  to  stay  station- 
ary where  we  are.  Our  conceptions  of  God,  even 
though  skillfully  built  up,  are  only  partly  correct. 

But  hear  the  conclusion  of  the  parable.  The 
young  man's  father  was  not  drowned.  While  the 
raft  drifted  ashore  bearing  his  dead  wife  and  his 
living  son,  he  drifted  out  to  sea  clinging  to  a  spar. 
After  many  hours  he  was  picked  up  by  a  passing 
vessel.  Believing  that  his  wife  and  child  had  per- 
ished, he  wandered  over  the  earth  and  the  ocean 
a  desolate  and  sorrowing  man.  One  day,  on  the 
street  of  a  certain  city,  he  saw  a  face  that  so  much 
resembled  that  of  his  long-lost  wife  that  he  was 
compelled  to  speak.  The  result  was  the  discovery 
that  he  was  face   to  face  with  his  long-lost  and 


2l6  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

long-mourned  son.  When  all  was  explained  the 
son  began  to  see  how  much  of  error  there  was  in 
the  conception  he  had  formed  of  his  father  while 
viewing  himself  in  the  mirror.  He  had  pictured 
to  himself  a  slight  man,  five  feet  ten,  dark  hair, 
gray  eyes ;  but  he  saw  in  his  father  a  sea-captain, 
who  was  a  Swede  with  the  blood  of  the  Norsemen 
in  his  veins.  His  father  was  a  giant  in  stature, 
with  flaxen  hair  and  blue  eyes,  and  a  skin  which 
had  been  lily-white  before  the  spray  of  salt  waves 
and  rude  ocean  winds  and  tropical  sun  had  browned 
it.  One  day  he  said  to  his  father,  "  Father,  I  used 
to  look  at  myself  in  the  mirror,  and  picture  you 
such  as  I  was.  In  many  points  I  was  wrong,  but 
I  glory  in  my  disappointment.  You  are  in  every 
way  grander  than  was  my  thought  of  you." 

Like  this  young  man's  knowledge  of  his  father, 
our  knowledge  of  God  is  partial.  It  needs  cor- 
rection. It  needs  growth.  It  needs  broadening. 
It  needs  the  enlargement  which  experience  can 
give  it.  It  needs  the  correction  which  the  teach- 
ing of  the  inspired  Book  can  give  it.  It  needs  the 
additions  which  come  from  the  comparison  of  our 
views  with  the  views  of  the  men  and  women  who 
love  God  and  seek  after  God.  It  needs  more  than 
all  this ;  for  all  this  is  only  seeing  God  through 
a  glass  darkly.  //  needs  the  open  vision  of  God 
Himself  which  God  will  give  us  when  we  pass 
into  the  eternal  world  and  see  Him  face  to  face. 
It  needs  the  tuition  of  heaven.      In  point  of  knowl- 


THINGS   OF  CHILDHOOD.  21  J 

edge  there  is  a  vast  difference  between  the  child 
starting  in  life  and  the  full  matured  man  studying 
God  in  the  light  of  heaven.  Which  would  you 
rather  be,  the  child  or  the  man  ? 

The  man  only  is  God's  ultimatum.  He  says 
unto  us,  "  Be  men,"  and  the  text  does  not  stand 
in  the  way  of  His  command.  Nay,  rather  it  opens 
before  us  the  only  way  whereby  we  can  reach  the 
full  manhood  of  knowledge.  The  text  binds  us  to 
childhood  only  as  a  quality,  and  not  to  childhood 
as  a  period  of  time.  It  binds  us  to  childlikeness, 
not  to  childishness.  Childhood  as  a  quality  in- 
cludes teachableness ;  now  teachableness  is  es- 
sential to  the  acquisition  of  knowledge.  Teach- 
ableness is  the  prophecy  and  promise  of  full-orbed 
knowledge. 

While  we  strive  to  grasp  the  fact  that  there  are 
some  things  in  childhood  which  should  forever 
remain  with  us,  we  are  particular  to  assert  that 
there  are  some  tilings  which  we  should  outgrow 
and  forever  drop.  All  that  is  in  childhood  should 
not  be  carried  forward.  In  order  to  a  true  man- 
hood and  womanhood  it  is  as  essential  to  drop 
some  things  as  it  is  to  carry  other  things,  and 
unless  we  drop  the  things  which  should  be 
dropped,  we  cannot  carry  the  things  which  should 
be  carried. 

I  will  illustrate  and  give  examples.  Passion 
must  give  way  to  principle ;  appetite  must  give 
way  to  reason ;   imagination  acting  without  calcu- 


2i8  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

lation  must  give  way  to  prudence ;  impulse  must 
put  itself  under  conscience ;  rashness  must  ex- 
change places  with  caution;  timidity  and  indeci- 
sion must  allow  themselves  to  be  supplanted  by 
self-control  and  firmness.  There  must  be  earnest, 
serious  thought,  and  large  forecast,  and  a  well- 
stored  mind,  and  an  enlightened  conscience,  and 
deep  convictions,  and  the  courage  to  stand  by  our 
principles  at  all  hazard.  True  manhood  and  true 
womanhood  have  virtues  that  are  all  their  own, 
and  it  should  be  our  aim  to  reach  these.  But  how 
are  these  to  be  reached  ?  Only  by  the  way  the 
text  points  out :  by  passing  through  a  true  child- 
hood, and  by  carrying  into  our  manhood  the  best 
elements  of  that  true  childhood. 

I  want  to  set  before  your  mind  just  here  this  fact, 
viz. :  it  is  Christianity  that  honors  cJiildJwod  and 
points  ont  its  worth  and  value.  It  is  Christ  who 
proclaims  that  the  child- heart  is  the  door  into  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  and  discovers  the  elements  in 
childhood  which  should  be  present  in  the  highest 
manhood.  It  is  Jesus  who  lifts  the  little  child  into 
a  grand  type.  He  says  to  the  world,  "  Dwell  not 
on  the  trouble-and-care  side  of  children — their 
thoughtlessness,  which  vexes,  their  constant  need 
of  attention,  which  wears ;  pass  over  to  the  other 
side  and  see  them  in  the  light  of  the  land  from 
which  they  came,  and  to  which  they  can  by  God's 
grace  lead  back." 

Look  at  the  glory  in  their  faces  !      See  in  them 


THINGS   OF  CHILDHOOD.  219 

the  characteristics  which  woo  and  win  human 
hearts,  and  which  command  and  bless  the  human 
race  !  They  carry  in  them  the  greatest  amount 
of  heavenliness  possessed  by  mortals.  It  is  as 
Wordsworth  says : 

"  Heaven  lies  all  around  us  in  our  infancy." 

Or,  to  use  Matthew  Arnold's  words,  "  Children 
testify  of  a  divine  home  felt,  and  fading  away  as 
life  proceeds."  Whose  heart  has  infancy  ever 
injured?  Into  the  tissue  of  whose  life  has  it  not 
with  its  pure  hand  woven  some  golden  thread, 
some  ray  of  joy,  some  heavenly  tie  ?  Everywhere 
it  refines  and  strengthens  the  chain  of  human  sym- 
pathy. A  great  writer  has  said,  "  Every  Christian 
grace  displays  itself  at  some  period  in  the  infant  of 
but  a  single  year — faith  and  humility  and  truth 
and  love."  Is  that  saying  true?  If  so,  it  pre- 
sents a  wonderful  fact ;  for  the  graces  named  in 
the  saying,  when  tried  and  harmonized  and  ma- 
tured, are  the  beautiful  elements  which  compose 
the  character  of  the  perfect  man.  I  am  inclined 
to  accept  the  saying,  and  I  am  inclined  to  accept 
it  because  it  accords  with  the  teaching  of  Christ 
when  He  lifts  a  little  child  in  His  arms  and  places 
it  in  the  midst  of  His  disciples,  saying,  "  Mark,  O 
My  disciples,  the  infinite  simplicity  of  the  child's 
trusting  and  loving  heart ;  for  it  is  a  revelation  of 
the  Spirit  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 

The  child  whom  Christ  makes  a  grand  type  is 


220  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

not  the  child  that  has  been  vitiated  and  corrupted 
by  contact  with  bad  men.  It  does  not  belong,  of 
course,  to  the  boys  in  your  block.  For  what  block 
is  there  that  has  not  the  very  worst  boys  of  the 
city?  Its  childhood  is  not  the  childhood  in  which 
is  developed  the  old  Adam  or  the  young  Cain. 
The  childhood  which  Christ  uses  as  a  type  is  a 
holy  childhood,  and  a  holy  childhood  in  its  holiest 
mood,  a  childhood  pure  and  simple,  a  childhood 
before  it  is  touched  by  the  world's  artificiality,  a 
childhood  that  is  natural.  When  He  says,  "  Be- 
come as  a  little  child,"  He  means  us  to  become  like 
a  child  that  loves,  and  that  rejoices  in  being  loved; 
that  is  truthful  and  trustful ;  that  shows  itself  as  it 
is,  and  that  counts  upon  others  to  be  what  they 
appear.  It  was  in  the  spontaneous  life  of  such  a 
child  that  the  holy  eye,  which  sees  lessons  in  the 
lilies  and  in  the  grasses  and  in  the  sparrows  and  in 
the  clouds,  saw  types  and  models  for  His  disciples. 
I  wish  to  dwell  upon  the  fact  that  Christianity 
deals  with  childhood,  and  lifts  the  true  child  into 
a  grand  typology,  and  exalts  childhood,  and  pro- 
tects childhood,  and  honors  childhood,  and  discerns 
in  the  essential  attributes  of  childhood  the  elements 
of  genuine  and  lasting  greatness.  Christianity  is 
the  symbol  of  advancement.  It  is  the  latest  and 
highest  progress  of  the  world.  Now  what  does 
the  latest  progress  of  the  world's  civilization  do? 
It  sets  forth  ideal  childhood  as  the  embodiment  of 
goodness,  and  proclaims  that  goodness  is  greatness. 


THINGS   OF  CHILDHOOD.  221 

In  this,  Christian  civilization  is  differentiated  from 
the  civilizations  that  precede  it.  Goodness  has 
not  always  been  considered  greatness. 

When  the  Magi  of  the  East  sought  the  King  of 
Greatness  they  were  taken  to  a  little  holy  Child. 
But  the  world  through  all  the  ages  prior  to  that 
had  been  going  away  from  the  Child.  The  world's 
notion  of  greatness  lay  in  the  opposite  pole. 

As  we  review  the  history  of  the  world  we  see  it 
dividing  itself  into  three  stages.  In  the  first  stage 
power  is  magnified,  force  is  deified.  The  great 
man  is  the  strong  man.  In  that  era  Nimrod  is  the 
hero  after  the  world's  heart.  Strength  receives 
the  homage  of  the  many.  In  the  second  stage 
power  is  pushed  a  step  or  two  into  the  background, 
and  intellect  comes  to  the  front.  The  great  man 
is  the  intellectual  man.  In  that  era  Homer  is  the 
favored  idol  before  whom  the  populace  delights 
to  bow.  Genius  receives  the  homage  of  men. 
CJiristianity  has  inaugurated  the  third  stage.  In 
this  era  the  world  is  pointed,  not  to  Nimrod,  not 
to  Homer,  but  to  the  Child-Christ.  Not  to  pow- 
er, not  to  genius,  but  to  goodness.  The  great  man 
of  the  future  zuill  be  the  good  man  of  the  future. 
"  Blessed  are  the  meek,  for  they  shall  inherit  the 
earth."  "  Except  ye  be  converted  and  become 
like  little  children,  ye  cannot  enter  the  kingdom  of 
heaven."  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  the  kingdom 
of  greatness. 

What  seems  strange,  these  three  stages  of  the 


222  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

world's  history  which  I  have  mentioned  are  paral- 
leled in  the  individual  experience  of  man,  as  man 
admires  the  forces  operating  in  the  world.  What 
causes  the  heart  of  the  boy  to  respond  in  admi- 
ration? David  slaying  Goliath — power.  Caesar 
leading  the  Tenth  Legion — power.  Napoleon  at 
the  head  of  the  Old  Guard — power.  Let  the  boy 
pass  to  young  manhood.  What  causes  his  heart 
to  respond  in  admiration  while  in  the  midst  of 
young  manhood  ?  Shakespeare  creating  his  won- 
derful characters — genius.  Goethe  throwing  off 
the  products  of  his  facile  pen — genius.  Macaulay 
writing  his  world-renowned  history — genius.  Let 
the  young  man  reach  his  full  maturity,  when  he  is 
able  to  weigh  and  analyze  and  judge  after  the 
highest  and  the  most  approved  standards.  What 
calls  out  admiration  from  the  heart  of  the  mature 
man?  John  Howard  at  work  among  the  prisons 
practicing  the  doctrine  of  humaneness — goodness. 
Livingstone  struggling  in  the  thickets  of  the  Dark 
Continent  for  the  elevation  of  Africa — goodness. 
Abraham  Lincoln  writing  the  Emancipation  Proc- 
lamation— goodness.  Under  the  Christian  dispen- 
sation we  are  taught  to  admire  character,  and 
genuine  character  has  in  it  all  the  gentle  graces  of 
childhood. 

The  ethics  of  Christianity,  when  they  were  first 
proclaimed,  fairly  startled  the  world  with  their  new 
doctrine,  that  to  develop  the  grandest  manhood 
men  must  become  as  little  children.    Other  systems 


THINGS   OF  CHILDHOOD.  223 

of  ethics  gave,  as  models  of  the  finest  manhood, 
stoical  firmness,  bold  indifference  to  circumstances, 
and  the  rougher  and  sterner  virtues.  With  them 
the  complete  elimination  of  the  child  meant  man- 
hood. They  never  dreamed  that  the  recognition 
of  childhood  was  the  best  thermometer  of  the 
world's  progress. 

It  is  remarkable  that  the  literature  of  the  Dark 
Ages  presents  no  model  childhood.  But  see  how 
troops  of  beautiful  children  crowd  literature  since 
the  Dark  Ages.  It  is  the  glory  of  Christianity's 
Book  that  the  child  is  in  it: — the  little  maid  mis- 
sionary in  a  foreign  land  pointing  Naaman  to  the 
only  source  of  healing  in  all  the  wide  world ;  the 
boy-priest  Samuel  serving  in  the  Tabernacle  ;  the 
merchant  lad  with  his  two  fishes  and  five  barley 
loaves,  in  the  exercise  of  a  fine  enterprise,  selling 
out  his  entire  stock  on  the  spot ;  little  Timothy,  a 
small  epitome  of  a  man,  at  the  knee  of  his  mother 
and  grandmother,  drinking  in  Bible  stories ;  the 
children  in  the  Temple  singing  their  hosannahs  to 
the  Son  of  David.  These  are  the  glory  of  Chris- 
tianity's Book,  and  these  show  the  high  estimate 
which  Christianity  puts  upon  childhood. 

I  am  anxious  above  all  things  that  Christianity 
shall  get  its  full  credit  for  what  it  has  done  for 
childhood,  and  for  the  way  it  has  blessed  the  world 
at  large  through  its  appreciation  of  the  child. 

You  know  how  the  child  was  treated  before  the 
days  of  Christ.      In  Sparta,  and   in  some   of  the 


224  0UR  BEST  MOODS. 

Greek  cities,  in  Rome,  and  among  many  savage 
tribes,  it  was  the  custom  to  destroy  small  and  un- 
healthy children  as  soon  as  they  were  born.  Chris- 
tianity puts  an  end  to  that.  It  protects  the  feeblest 
human  life  by  righteous  legislation.  Christianity 
weighs  the  child's  soul.  It  honors  its  body,  no 
matter  how  weak  or  defective  it  may  be,  because 
of  the  soul.  How  many  men  with  giant  minds 
and  great  hearts  would  have  been  lost  to  the  world 
during  the  Christian  era  if  the  ancient  ethics  of 
Greece  and  Rome  had  prevailed!  Byron  was 
born  with  a  club-foot ;  Spinoza  was  weak ;  Samuel 
Johnson  was  disfigured ;  Sir  Isaac  Newton  was  so 
small  that  he  could  have  been  put  into  a  quart 
measure ;  Goethe  and  Victor  Hugo  were  so  weak 
that  they  were  not  expected  to  live ;  Charles 
Sumner  weighed  but  three  pounds  and  a  half; 
Descartes,  Gibbon,  Kepler,  Lord  Nelson,  Christo- 
pher Wren,  James  Watt,  John  Howard,  Washing- 
ton Irving,  Wilberforce,  and  others  of  equal  great- 
ness, were  all  characterized  by  bodily  weakness  in 
infancy.  Christianity  came  into  the  world  and 
saved  them  from  the  fate  that  would  have  been 
theirs  had  they  been  born  in  the  cities  I  have 
named,  before  the  Christian  era.  They  were  saved 
because  the  voice  of  Jesus  Christ  had  echoed  round 
the  world  these  merciful  words  concerning  chil- 
dren :  "  It  is  not  the  will  of  your  heavenly  Father 
that  the  least  of  these  little  ones  should  perish." 
But  allow  me  to  address  myself  to  a  practical 


THINGS   OF  CHILDHOOD.  225 

question,  which  is  really  the  main  question  set 
before  us  by  my  topic.  The  question  is :  What 
things  should  we  carry  out  of  our  childJiood  into 
our  manhood  and  womanhood  ?  I  mean  to  give 
the  rest  of  my  sermon  to  the  answer  of  this 
question. 

1 .  We  should  take  into  manliood  and  ivomanhood 
the  inquiring  mind. 

It  is  the  characteristic  of  the  child  to  ask  ques- 
tions. That  should  be  the  characteristic  of  men  and 
women.  A  question  is  a  chariot  in  which  the  soul 
may  ride  into  truth.  It  is  better  to  ask  questions 
than  it  is  to  dogmatize.  I  do  not  mean  that  it  is 
better  to  ask  the  questions  of  the  agnostic,  but  the 
questions  of  an  honest  seeker  after  truth.  Ask 
questions  as  Job  asked  them.  There  is  no  book 
in  the  Bible  in  which  the  interrogation  point  is  so 
used  as  in  the  Book  of  Job ;  and  no  one,  in  dealing 
with  the  most  difficult  problems  of  life,  ever  came 
forth  more  grandly  than  Job  did. 

In  asking  questions,  be  children.  I  came  across 
a  little  book  last  week  which  was  given  up  wholly 
to  keeping  a  record  of  "  Questions  Asked  by  Chil- 
dren." These  were  some  of  the  questions  that 
fell  from  little  lips :  A  certain  mother  had  made 
a  disparaging  remark  about  her  neighbor.  It 
chanced  that  the  neighbor  called  that  very  day, 
and  the  smart  infant  of  the  Bay  State  put  this 
question  to  its  mother:  "  Mamma,  is  this  the  Mrs. 
B.  you  take  no  stock  in?"     A  little  boy,  after  a 


226  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

visit  to  his  grandfather's,  where  there  was  always 
a  blessing  sought  at  meals,  asked  his  father,  "  Papa, 
why  don't  you  talk  to  your  plate  as  grandpa  talks 
to  his  every  dinner-time?"  The  father  under- 
stood the  question  and  felt  the  rebuke.  The 
questions  in  the  book  run  from  questions  like  these 
up  to  the  most  serious  questions  possible — ques- 
tions pertaining  to  God  and  heaven,  and  to  death, 
and  to  the  state  after  death.  Like  the  child,  fill 
life  full  of  questions.  But  do  not  let  faith  die  into 
cold  questions  or  into  colder  indifTerentism ;  let 
your  questions  be  questions  that  are  burning-hot 
with  a  desire  after  true  knowledge.  While  you 
are  in  the  universe  you  are  in  your  Father's  house, 
and  questions  in  your  Father's  house  concerning 
God  and  His  communications  to  men  are  no  more 
out  of  place,  and  should  no  more  interfere  with 
your  right  relations  to  God,  than  the  questions 
which  your  child  asks  in  your  home  are  out  of 
place  or  interfere  with  its  relation  to  you.  Inter- 
rogate, then.  Interrogate  the  rocks.  Interrogate 
the  stars.  Interrogate  the  elements  and  forces  in 
their  mighty  play.  Study  man.  Study  the  Bible. 
Study  God.  "Prove  all  things."  This  will  only 
exalt  the  power  and  love  and  faithfulness  of  God, 
who  is  back  of  all  nature  and  who  is  in  the  Book. 
The  grandest  thing  in  this  advanced  nineteenth 
century  of  ours  is  the  prevailing  spirit  of  honest 
inquiry. 

2.    We  should  carry  into  manhood  and  woman- 
hood the  transparency  and  simplicity  of  cJiildlwod. 


THINGS   OF  CHILDHOOD.  227 

The  artlessness  and  the  openness  of  the  child  is 
refreshing.  The  child  may  be  a  little  sinner,  but 
he  is  a'  transparent  little  sinner,  and  his  transpar- 
ency is  an  item  that  should  be  put  to  his  credit. 
One  illustration  will  be  sufficient.  An  aunt  was 
visiting  the  home  of  one  of  Brooklyn's  little  citi- 
zens, and  she  made  herself  welcome  by  bringing 
with  her  an  ample  supply  of  sweets.  The  mother 
of  the  lad  came  to  feel  that  he  made  too  many 
draughts  upon  the  aunt's  generosity,  and  forbade 
him  asking  for  a  single  atom  more.  This  prohi- 
bition was  a  barrier  which  must  in  some  way  be 
surmounted,  and  the  little  fellow  most  guilelessly 
betrayed  a  guileful  plan  of  procedure  by  interpo- 
lating it  in  his  recital  of  the  Lord's  Prayer.  He 
rattled  the  prayer  off  with  breathless  haste  :  "  Our 
Father  which  art  in  heaven,  hallowed  be  Thy 
name,  Thy  kingdom  come,  Thy  will  be  done  on 
earth  as  it  is  in  heaven,  and  I'll  just  ask  auntie  for 
some  candy  for  grandpa,  and  he  will  say,  '  No,  I 
thank  thee,'  and  then  I'll  have  it  for  myself;  and 
forgive  our  debts  as  we  forgive  our  debtors ;  for  I 
must  go  and  ask  her  right  away ;  and  lead  us  not 
into  temptation,  but  deliver  us  from  evil,  for  Thine 
the  kingdom,  power,  glory,  and  I  am  going  right 
away.     Amen." 

That  was  not  right.  No.  But  it  was  a  great 
deal  better  than  some  of  the  plans  which  you  carry 
out  and  subtilely  concoct  and  cover  up.  If  all  sin 
were  as  transparent  as  that,  it  would  be  an  easy 
matter  to  defeat  sin.     There  is  a  great  difference 


228  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

between  the  child-heart  and  the  heart  sophisticated 
by  life.  The  latter  is  able  to  give  a  deadliness  to 
evil.  Deplore  and  guard  against  the  influences 
that  change  the  outspoken,  artless  child  into  the 
man  who  wears  a  mask  and  cultivates  a  silence 
that  lies  and  deceives.  The  speech  that  is  the 
sincerest  in  this  world  is  that  which  is  nearest  to  a 
prattling  voice.  Oh  that  we  could  see  through 
our  fellow-men!  Oh  that  their  lives  were  so  pure 
and  holy  and  good-intentioned  that  they  could 
afford  to  live  in  the  sunshine  and  allow  men  to  look 
them  through  and  through!  Oh  that  men  were 
what  they  pretend  to  be !  Transparency  !  Sin- 
cerity !      That  is  what  mankind  needs. 

3.  We  should  carry  with  us  into  our  manliood 
and  womanhood  the  sense  of  the  goodness  of  exist- 
ence and  the  ability  to  enjoy  life. 

Life  is  a  real  pleasure  to  a  child.  It  lives  as  a 
striking  contrast  and  as  a  rebuke  in  the  midst  of 
the  men  and  women  who  have  completely  flattened 
out ;  who  spend  their  time  pottering  over  triviali- 
ties, enjoying  nothing  and  entering  with  heartiness 
into  nothing ;  who  are  tired  of  life  and  are  prema- 
turely old  because  they  have  no  mental  resources 
to  fall  back  upon.  Take  a  child  with  his  "  Robin- 
son Crusoe"  and  "Arabian  Nights,"  his  bat  and 
ball,  his  trumpet  and  drum,  his  fishing-rod  and 
gun,  his  kite  and  top,  and  life  is  a  real  relish  to 
him.  Such  a  child  is  always  facing  the  sun,  so 
that  his  shadows  of  course  fall  behind  him  and  out 


TH1XGS   OF   CHILDHOOD.  2  29 

of  sight.  His  heart  is  care-free.  He  is  confident 
of  being  cared  for.  He  might  distrust  his  father 
and  mother  and  have  grief  on  this  account,  but  he 
does  not.  Such  a  child  not  only  enjoys  his  play 
and  his  growth,  but  he  enjoys  his  sleep.  It  is  not 
more  than  a  moment  from  "  good-night,  mamma," 
to  "  good-morning,  mamma  "  ;  and  the  new  day  al- 
ways blossoms  out  in  original  freshness  and  sparkle. 
We  should  guard  this  ability  to  enjoy  things  which 
God  gives  us  in  childhood.  And  it  can  be  guarded. 
We  should  cultivate  this  sense  of  the  goodness  of 
life.  And  it  can  be  cultivated.  By  putting  the 
right  things  into  life  we  can  make  life  enjoyable — 
right  principles,  right  theories,  right  pursuits,  right 
relations  with  God  and  with  our  fellow-men. 
These  things  can  give  men  and  women  more  hap- 
piness than  toys  give  children.  This  is  what  the 
experience  of  some  men  declare.  Take  Hans 
Christian  Andersen,  that  man  who  wrote  so 
many  wonderful  children's  stories,  and  who  kept 
himself  all  his  life  in  fellowship  with  the  little  ones. 
He  tells  us  that  his  life  was  as  happy  as  a  child's. 
His  own  words  are :  "  My  life  is  a  living  story, 
happy  and  full  of  incident.  It  says  to  the  world 
and  to  me,  '  There  is  a  God,  who  directs  all  things 
for  the  best.'  " 

4.  We  should  take  with  us  into  our  manhood  and 
womanhood  the  large  and  beautiful  faith-faculty 
of  our  cJiildliood. 

There  is  nothing  in  the  child  that  is  grander 


230  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

than  its  faith.  It  goes  through  childhood  believ- 
ing, and  according  to  its  faith  so  does  it  receive. 
By  faith  the  little  child  sleeps  on  God's  heart  and 
is  refreshed;  by  faith  it  puts  its  hand  into  God's 
hand,  and  is  led  and  upheld.  Every  day  we  see 
how  the  unquestioning  faith  of  the  child  brings  it 
that  which  it  wants  and  seeks.  It  believes,  and 
those  around  it  honor  its  belief.  In  the  history  of 
the  fine  arts  we  read  that  a  little  child  on  the 
streets  of  Florence  watched  for  the  coming  of 
Michael  Angelo,  who  was  on  his  way  to  his  studio. 
The  child  brought  with  it  a  large  sheet  of  paper, 
for  it  intended  to  ask  the  artist  to  draw  it  a  picture, 
and  it  firmly  believed  that  he  would.  That  was 
a  bold  faith.  Angelo,  the  man  who  combined  in 
one  soul  painter,  sculptor,  architect,  and  poet,  was 
in  the  zenith  of  his  glory.  Popes  had  pleaded  with 
him  for  the  fruits  of  his  genius,  and  kings  had 
offered  him  vast  sums  for  a  single  work  of  art. 
The  child's  faith  in  asking  him  for  a  picture  was 
daring  faith ;  but  it  won  the  day.  It  went  right 
to  the  heart  of  the  artist.  He  could  not  dis- 
appoint such  open  and  sincere  trust  and  expec- 
tation. Sitting  down  on  the  side  of  the  street, 
he  drew  a  sketch  there  and  then,  such  as  no 
other  hand  in  all  the  world  could  have  produced. 
That  was  what  the  child  expected  and  believed 
he  would  do.  This  incident  teaches  us  that 
if  we  only  exercised  faith  in  our  fellow-men, 
we  could  reach  the  heart  of  our  fellow-men,  and 


THINGS   OF  CHILDHOOD.  23  I 

would  receive  from  them  the  very  best  they  have 
to  give.  Very  few  men  have  the  heart  to  cheat 
or  injure  the  man  who  implicitly  trusts  them.  Our 
open  dealing  with  men  and  our  magnanimous  trust 
in  them  can  and  will  prove  educational.  It  will 
lead  to  openness  and  trust  in  their  dealing  with  us. 
One  open  and  trusting  man  will  make  a  hundred 
other  men  such  as  he  is.  This  freedom  from  sus- 
picion, this  implicit  trust  of  childhood,  is  what 
society  needs.  What  a  state  of  society  it  has  the 
ability  to  inaugurate !  I  believe  that  a  childlike 
faith  in  man  has  in  it  a  power  that  can  regenerate 
and  purify  human  society. 

The  faith  of  childhood  must  be  exercised  espe- 
cially in  our  dealing  with  God.  We  who  are  grown 
men  and  women  want  to  learn  to  cradle  ourselves 
in  God.  When  we  do  this,  then  we  shall  find  the 
truth  of  that  beautiful  promise,  "  Thou  wilt  keep 
him  in  perfect  peace  whose  mind  is  stayed  on 
Thee."  A  noted  Bible  expositor  uses  Abraham 
as  an  illustration  of  the  truth  of  this  promise. 
Abraham  with  the  faith  of  a  little  child  nestled  in 
the  very  heart  of  God,  and  so  became  the  father 
of  the  faithful.  He  fed  himself  upon  the  divine 
life  and  love.  God  took  him  out  one  night  and 
showed  him  all  the  visible  hosts  of  heaven,  and 
then  said  to  this  childless  wanderer,  "  Even  so 
shall  thy  seed  be."  What  followed?  Abraham, 
no  longer  the  mighty  chief  and  audacious  explorer 
of  unknown   lands,  no  longer  the  owner  of  count- 


232  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

less  flocks  and  riches  of  an  Eastern  kind,  became 
as  a  little  child.  "Abraham  believed  God."  The 
first  time  the  word  "  believe  "  occurs  in  the  Bible 
is  in  this  instance:  "Abraham  believed  God."  He 
said  to  sight,  "  Stand  back."  He  said  to  the  laws 
of  nature,  "  Hold  your  peace."  He  said  to  a  mis- 
giving heart,  "  Silence,  thou  deceiving  tempter." 
"Abraham  believed  God."  How  much  there  is  in 
that  word  "  believe  "  as  in  this  instance  it  is  first 
written !  Abraham  nestled  in  the  heart  of  God, 
and  nurtured  and  fed  himself  upon  the  divine 
vitality.  Such  is  the  meaning  of  the  word  "  be- 
lieve."    Abraham's  faith  was  childlike. 

See  the  power  of  faith!  It  gives  a  man  the 
sense  of  sonship.  "  To  as  many  as  believe,  to 
them  He  gives  the  power  to  become  the  sons  of 
God."  And  that  is  a  wonderful  privilege;  for 
sonship  carries  in  it  the  Father-idea.  The  Father- 
idea  makes  us  feel  that  we  are  never  alone.  "  I 
am  not  alone,  for  the  Father  is  with  Me."  The 
idea  of  sonship  which  is  always  joined  with  the 
Father-idea  places  us  on  the  side  of  things  on 
which  God  is.  If  all  this  be  true,  then  how  much 
grows  out  of  carrying  the  faith-faculty  of  childhood 
with  us  throughout  our  entire  life ! 

I  have  no  time  further  to  particularize.  I  can 
only  group  what  remains  to  be  presented.  We 
should  carry  with  us  into  manhood  and  woman- 
hood childhood's  sympathy,  childhood's  heart, 
childhood's    love,    childhood's     hope,    childhood's 


THINGS   OF  CHILDHOOD.  233 

aspirations,  childhood's  enterprise,  childhood's  en- 
thusiasm, and  childhood's  freshness.  Let  us  be 
honest,  and  let  us  fear  not  to  proclaim  the  unvar- 
nished truth.  What  is  the  unvarnished  truth? 
The  unvarnished  truth  is  this,  viz.  :  it  is  the  spirit 
and  the  boldness  and  the  out-push  and  on-push 
of  youth  that  keeps  the  world  agoing,  and  the 
church  agoing,  and  the  man  agoing;  therefore,  if 
we  are  to  be  useful  and  be  a  help  in  the  world, 
and  not  in  the  way,  serving  the  world  only  by  our 
funeral,  our  silver  locks  must  often  mingle  with 
golden  locks,  and  we  must  in  middle  life  and  in  old 
age  be  young  in  heart,  and  young  in  hope,  and 
young  in  our  plans,  and  young  in  our  enthusiasm. 

I  have  spoken  large  things ;  I  have  enumerated 
large  duties.  I  wish  in  closing  to  speak  one  word 
by  way  of  encouragement.  It  is  this:  What  I 
have  urged  has  been  realized  by  others.  Lowell, 
in  his  essay  on  Emerson,  says :  "  One  secret  of  his 
greatness  was,  he  tenaciously  maintained  himself 
in  the  outputs  of  his  youth — i.e.,  he  held  on  to  the 
best  of  his  boy-days." 

Childhood  has  been  carried  into  manhood. 
Mature  lives  have  been  filled  with  splendid 
sanguineness.  Men  have  reached  the  highest 
dreams  and  ambitions  of  their  boy-days.  Moses 
is  an  illustration  of  this.  His  mother  during  his 
boyhood  days  gave  him  character  and  an  inspira- 
tion and  a  patriotic  plan,  and  put  within  him  an 
impulse  which  he  never  forgot.     She  gave  him  a 


234  0UR  BEST  MOODS. 

mission  as  a  boy  to  shake  the  very  throne  of  the 
tyrannical  Pharaoh,  and  when  he  became  a  man 
he  shook  that  throne  until  he  almost  shattered  it. 
The  early  dream  of  his  life  was  that  he  might  make 
a  free  nation  out  of  God's  covenant  people,  and  in 
mature  manhood  he  translated  his  dream  from 
dream  to  glorious  fact.  In  Moses,  childhood 
marched  on  into  manhood. 

But  we  have  a  brighter  example  even  than 
Moses.  It  is  Jesus  Himself.  I  have  spoken  of 
the  importance  of  carrying  the  faith-faculty  of 
childhood  into  manhood.  Jesus  shows  us  that  this 
can  be  done.  He  did  it.  Nothing  shone  out 
brighter  in  His  life  than  His  radiant  faith  in  His 
Father.  And  this  was  the  child-quality  in  Christ. 
Amid  all  His  wisdom  and  truth  and  the  exercise 
of  His  wonderful  power,  His  faith  shone.  His 
faith  began  in  childhood  and  continued  to  the  very 
end.  His  faith  was  faith  in  God  as  a  Father. 
The  first  recorded  sentence  that  Jesus  spoke  called 
God  His  Father,  and  His  last  recorded  sentence 
on  the  cross  called  God  His  Father.  It  was  by 
the  faith  of  His  childhood  that  He  offered  Himself 
the  sacrifice  for  sin  upon  the  cross.  "  To  be  about 
His  Father's  business,"  that  was  the  grandest  thing 
in  His  childhood,  and  that  He  made  the  chief 
business  of  His  manhood.  In  Him,  as  a  Tree  of 
Life,  the  blossom  fruited. 

Just  as  our  manhood  tinges  and  colors  our 
immortality,  just  as  we  carry  over  the  line  between 


THINGS   OF  CHILDHOOD.  235 

time  and  eternity  our  faith  and  our  hope  and  our 
charity — three  graces  which  Paul  says  are  eternal 
and  abide  with  us  forever — in  like  manner  we  can 
here  on  earth  see  to  it  that  the  golden  flush  of 
childhood  shall  radiate  through  our  maturity,  and 
give  beauty  to  our  manly  integrity  and  strength, 
and  give  permanency  to  our  mature  nobleness  and 
power.  Occupying  a  high  position  in  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  depends  upon  our  seeing  to  this. 

The  kingdom  of  heaven !  There  is  no  greater 
motive  power  that  can  be  brought  to  bear  upon  us 
as  an  inspiration  to  duty.  The  kingdom  of  heaven ! 
O  my  soul,  when  that  is  at  stake  thou  must  be 
true  to  it,  and  thou  must  be  true  also  to  thyself. 


X. 

RESULTS  OF  COMMUNION  WITH  GOD. 


X. 

RESULTS  OF   COMMUNION  WITH    GOD. 

"And  A/oses  was  with  the  Lord  forty  days  and  forty  nights; 
.  .  .  and  Moses'  face  shone  while  he  talked  with  Him." — Ex- 
odus 34:  29. 

While  the  story  of  Moses  is  real  history,  it  has 
in  it  a  charm  away  beyond  that  of  any  romance. 
From  the  ark  of  bulrushes  on  the  Nile  to  the  hid- 
den grave  somewhere  in  the  altitudes  of  Nebo,  one 
thrilling  incident  gives  way  to  another  incident 
just  as  thrilling.  His  is  the  greatest  name  of  all 
antiquity.  He  was  sublimely  magnificent  for  per- 
sonal purity,  for  grandeur  of  conception,  and  for 
wisdom  of  judgment.  He  made  great  everything 
he  touched.  There  are  higher  mountain-peaks  in 
the  world  than  those  of  Sinai — peaks  crested  with 
deeper  snow ;  peaks  with  double  its  beetling  crags  ; 
peaks  thunder-riven  and  storm-scarred  a  thousand 
times  beyond  it.  Why  does  Sinai  tower  above 
these  on  the  page  of  history  ?  Moses  made  his 
home  there  in  the  heart  of  its  solitudes,  and  brought 
from  thence  the  deep  things  of  God,  and  this  is 
239 


240  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

the  reason.  Out  from  the  deepest  crevice  of  its 
cloud-covered  summit  came  forth  this  man  of  God 
with  a  shining  face,  a  pictorial  person,  his  arms 
burdened  with  The  Decalogue,  God's  richest  gift 
to  the  men  of  old.  He  not  only  made  Sinai  great, 
he  made  the  Hebrew  nation  great.  He  so  stamped 
himself  upon  the  Hebrew  people  that  even  to-day, 
after  the  cruel  wanderings  of  centuries  without 
king  and  without  country,  they  are  unmistakably 
a  separated  and  distinct  people.  "  The  birthmark 
of  the  Hebrew  Moses  is  ineffaceable." 

It  is  in  connection  with  his  gift  of  The  Decalogue 
to  the  world  that  he  is  introduced  by  the  text. 
Fresh  from  the  mountain  of  God,  he  stands  before 
us  in  the  glory  of  a  spiritual  transfiguration.  What 
transfigured  the  man?  Answer  this  question  for 
us  and  you  will  give  us  the  grand  secret  of  his 
grand  life.  Communion  with  God  :  that  was  what 
transfigured  him,  and  broadened  him,  and  gave  him 
power,  and  enlightened  his  intellect,  and  wrought 
in  him  the  miracle  of  purity,  and  made  him  "a 
Fire-Pillar  in  Israel."  The  best  parts  of  his  hu- 
man nature  were  fed  and  sustained  by  the  manna 
of  the  Promised  Land,  and  his  love  was  purgated 
by  the  higher  lights  of  heaven. 

My  fellow-men,  as  Moses  stands  before  us  with 
his  shining  face,  he  is  a  spiritual  and  refined  image 
of  the  highest  dream  of  aspiring  humanity.  We 
want  to  be  just  like  him.  This  incident  in  his  life 
links  itself  to  an  incident  which  ought  to  be  pos- 


RESULTS  OF  COMMUNION   WITH  GOD.     24 1 

sible,  and  which  I  believe  is  possible,  in  our  life. 
As  he  was  with  God  in  Sinai,  so  we  may  be  with 
God  in  the  sacramental  room,  and  from  this  room 
we  may  go  forth  with  a  transfigured  purpose  which 
may  work  itself  into  a  transfigured  life.  I  believe 
that  there  is  in  every  Christian  a  divine  something 
which,  when  it  fully  develops,  becomes  a  transfig- 
uration, a  shining  light,  a  golden  mosaic  of  moral 
splendors.  The  life  of  Moses  was  the  life  of  a  man 
beautifully  growing  away  from  all  selfishness  and 
tapering  off  toward  God.  And  in  this  I  believe 
our  life  may  be  like  his. 

It  is  a  great  blessing  for  us  to  have  an  ideal 
human  life  such  as  this  life.  I  am  glad  to  have 
God  as  an  example  and  Christ  as  an  example,  but 
I  am  just  as  glad  to  have  Moses  and  Paul  and 
John.  They  are  nearer  to  me  than  God  and  Christ. 
They  serve  for  me  a  purpose  which  God  and  Christ 
do  not.  They  are  greatness  and  success  rising 
right  out  of  infirmity  and  sin  like  my  own.  They 
show  me  how  near  like  God  and  Christ  I  can  be- 
come. God  and  Christ  as  ideals  frighten  me ;  but 
when  in  Moses  and  Paul  and  John  I  behold  how 
much  of  God  and  Christ  a  sinful  man  can  incar- 
nate, I  take  courage  and  press  on  to  the  goal  of 
Christ-likeness.  There  is  a  tremendous  inspiration 
in  one  good  man.  His  hand  is  the  hand  of  God 
taking  hold  of  his  fellow-man  and  lifting  him  up. 
God  is  not  jealous  of  him  ;  Christ  is  not  jealous  of 
him.      God  and  Christ  are  in  him  and  are  working 


242  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

through  him.  Moses  brings  just  so  much  of  God 
down  from  the  mountain  into  the  midst  of  Israel. 
Christ  lives  anew  in  Paul.  It  is  God's  glory  that 
shines  in  Moses'  face.  It  is  Christ's  brain  that 
writes  its  thoughts  by  Paul's  pen.  When  we  com- 
mune with  them  we  are  communing  with  God. 
They  are  sunbeams  from  the  Sun  of  Righteous- 
ness, and  as  pencils  of  holy  light  they  will  beautify 
our  character  with  spiritual  beauties,  just  as  the 
rays  of  the  natural  sun  beautify  the  spring  flower 
with  those  splendors  which  are  braided  into  every 
beam  of  light. 

While  we  are  thus  to  value,  and  do  value,  the 
men  of  God — such  as  the  minister  of  the  gospel, 
who  brings  us  the  Word  of  God  freshened  and 
vitalized  by  his  faith  and  experience  and  ear- 
nestness and  personality  ;  and  the  Sabbath-school 
teacher,  who  studies  for  us  and  prays  for  us,  and 
who  leads  us  over  the  pages  of  the  Bible  and  wins 
us  to  Christ  by  fidelity  and  sympathy  and  exam- 
ple ;  and  the  devout  friend,  who  lives  so  near  to 
God  in  his  daily  life  that  he  is  an  enlightened  con- 
science to  us,  an  interpreter  of  God,  and  a  prized 
representative  of  God,  a  living  epistle  of  God  to 
us — while  we  value  the  men  of  God,  still  there  is 
God  and  there  is  Christ,  and  we  need  them  also. 
We  need  them  with  a  supreme  need.  We  must 
all  deal  with  God  and  Christ  directly  and  person- 
ally, each  one  for  himself,  and  each  one  for  her- 
self.    We  want  Paul  plus  Paul's  Christ.     We  want 


RESULTS   OF  COMMUNION   WITH  GOD.     243 

Moses  plus  Moses'  God.  Our  souls  cry  out  foi 
God,  the  living  God.  We  must  have  what  Moses 
had  and  what  Paul  had — communion  with  God. 
It  was  fellowship  with  God  that  made  these  men. 
It  was  God  in  their  life  that  made  them  great,  and 
God  in  any  life  will  make  it  great.  Oh  that  men 
were  wise  and  that  they  understood  this!  Oh 
that  they  would  study  what  God  brings  with  Him 
into  a  human  life !  Oh  that  they  would  look  at 
the  ten  thousand  failures  among  the  men  who  walk 
our  streets — men  of  high  natural  endowments,  men 
who  might  be  great,  but  who  are  not  great  because 
they  have  not  asked  God  to  permit  them  to  be 
great,  or  to  help  them  to  be  great.  I  have  lived 
long  enough  to  learn  that  no  man  in  this  world  can 
succeed,  with  a  success  that  is  worth  having,  unless 
he  get  permission  from  God  to  succeed.  You  man, 
living  indifferently  with  regard  to  God's  will  and 
God's  Church  and  God's  day  and  God's  people,  do 
you  call  your  life  a  success?  Are  you  proud  of 
your  nature  and  of  your  growth?  If  you  are,  your 
friends  are  not.  Are  you  a  Moses?  Are  you  a 
Paul  ?  I  am  here  to  affirm  it  as  the  verdict  of  the 
ages  that  the  only  broad  life  and  the  only  grand 
life  is  the  life  that  is  lived  in  constant  fellowship 
with  God.  All  other  type  of  life  is  ill-shaped  and 
narrow,  and  a  thing  for  which  we  must  constantly 
offer  apologies.  It  is  not  a  rich  gem  into  which 
we  can  let  the  sunlight  pour  and  get  it  back  flash- 
ing in  colors  which  charm  and  thrill.     A  life  apart 


244  0CR  BEST  MOODS. 

from  God  is  a  life  of  flesh  and  sin,  and  a  life  of  flesh 
and  sin  always  contracts  and  narrows  and  paralyzes. 
It  soon  locks  a  man  up  so  that  he  can  undertake 
nothing  grand  and  do  nothing  grand.  The  children 
of  Israel  by  following  such  a  life  actually  lost  forty 
precious  years,  and  the  whole  generation  died 
within  sight  of  Canaan,  which  they  had  not  the 
pluck  nor  the  ability  to  take.  They  were  sin- 
fettered. 

There  is  a  very  strange  story  in  Fox's  "  Book 
of  Martyrs "  which  serves  me  here.  It  is  told 
of  one  of  the  Protestant  martyrs  who  saw  his 
brethren  put  to  death  by  burning.  He  was  re- 
served for  a  more  ingenious  torment.  He  was 
placed  in  a  luxurious  chamber  and  left  to  himself 
all  day,  with  the  choicest  of  food  to  eat  and  the 
best  of  wine  to  drink.  He  was  not  able  for  a  long 
time  to  understand  what  this  could  mean.  This 
was  very  far  from  torment.  But  after  a  while  the 
thought  struck  him  that  the  walls  were  coming 
nearer  together.  To  assure  himself,  he  measured 
the  distance  between  them.  After  a  few  days  he 
measured  the  distance  again,  and  to  his  utmost 
horror  he  found  that  that  was  actually  his  torture 
— the  walls  coming  nearer  and  nearer.  In  a  few 
days  the  room  was  a  cell ;  in  a  few  days  more  it 
was  a  terrible  vise ;  in  a  few  days  more  it  was  the 
narrowest  possible  coffin,  no  wider  than  a  knife- 
blade.  The  man  was  crushed  as  thin  as  a  sheet 
of  paper.     This  is  a  picture  of  what  a  life  of  sin 


RESULTS   OF  COMMUNION   WITH  GOD.     24$ 

and  godlessness  does  with  the  manhood  and  the 
grand  natural  powers  of  the  sinner.  Such  a  life 
tightens  around  a  man  like  a  vise,  and  crushes  him 
into  imbecility  and  narrowness  and  nothingness. 

Opposite  this  type  of  life  I  now  put  the  life 
lived  in  fellowship  with  God — a  life  which  ex- 
pands and  beautifully  ripens  and  becomes  lumi- 
nous ;  a  life  after  the  pattern  of  the  sublime  life  of 
Moses. 

We  are  to  think  for  a  little  while  of  what  we 
receive  from  our  fellowship  with  God.  We  do 
receive.  Let  us  get  hold  of  that  fact.  There  are 
results,  and  these  are  grand.  What  are  these  re- 
sults ?  In  answering  this  question  I  take  my 
answers  from  the  story  of  Moses,  the  great  picto- 
rial, shining  personality  of  the  Old  Testament.  I 
shall  only  speak  long  enough  to  point  out  three 
results. 

The  first  result  of  communion  with  God  which 
I  mention  is : 

1.  Accumulated  knowledge. 

This  was  the  resultant  of  Moses'  communion  with 
God.  He  himself  is  our  witness.  He  has  large 
knowledge,  but  he  does  not  take  the  credit  of  it 
to  himself.  He  was  an  educated  man.  He  was 
a  graduate  of  the  Oxford  of  ancient  Egypt.  He 
studied  mathematics  and  astronomy  and  chemistry 
under  the  experts  of  the  day.  He  was  versed  in 
literature.  He  could  read  the  hieroglyphics.  The 
Obelisk  which  stands  in  Central  Park,  New  York, 


246  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

stood  in  front  of  the  very  temple  where  he  studied, 
and  no  doubt  he  often  read  that  writing  on  it, 
which  is  sealed  to  us. 

While  he  was  finely  educated,  he  does  not  attrib- 
ute his  superior  knowledge  and  his  insight  into 
divine  things  to  his  secular  education ;  he  attrib- 
utes these  to  God.  He  declares  that  the  wonder- 
ful things  which  he  uttered  and  which  he  wrote 
he  received  from  God  during  the  hours  of  his  com- 
munion with  Him  while  alone  with  Him  in  the 
Mount. 

I  have  not  time  to  analyze  his  knowledge  or 
present  it  in  its  fullness.  You  have  it  in  the  open- 
ing of  the  Bible.  Let  me  select  only  a  specimen 
or  two.  Read  the  closing  words  of  the  Book  of 
Deuteronomy.  The  words  of  blessing  which  you 
find  there  are  fit  to  be  put  side  by  side  with  the 
Beatitudes  of  Jesus  with  which  He  opens  his  won- 
derful Sermon  on  the  Mount.  Read  the  thirty- 
second  chapter  of  Deuteronomy.  It  is  one  of  the 
sublimest  human  compositions  on  record.  It  was 
Moses'  swan  song.  It  is  the  storehouse  from 
which  later  Scripture-writers  draw  plentifully.  It 
has  been  called  the  Magna  Charta  of  Prophecy. 
Take  one  figure  as  an  illustration  of  its  beauty 
and  charm — the  figure  of  God  as  He  trains  His 
people  and  leads  them  from  one  high  thing  to 
another,  until  they  reach  the  full  mastery  of  them- 
selves and  climb  to  the  heights  of  their  being. 
He  compares  the  Eternal  in  this   leading  to  the 


RESULTS   OF   COMMUNION   WITH  GOD.     247 

mother  eagle  teaching  its  young  to  climb  the 
unaccustomed  steeps  of  the  atmosphere  until  they 
are  able  to  reach  at  will,  and  at  any  time,  the 
highest  point  of  the  blue  dome;  until  they  are 
able  to  pierce  even  the  fiercest  storm,  and,  while 
the  elements  are  emitting  their  firebolts  below  and 
sending  their  thunders  shrieking  over  the  hill-tops 
of  earth,  bask  in  the  calm  above  the  storm  and 
look  the  sun  full  in  the  face. 

The  most  noted  embodiment  of  knowledge 
which  Moses  has  left  us  is  The  Decalogue.  In  it 
we  have  a  positive  masterpiece  which  men  have 
never  been  able  to  improve.  Can  you  put  your 
critical  finger  upon  a  single  weak  word  in  it?  Or 
can  you  cite  a  single  line  that  is  wanting  in  intel- 
lectuality or  in  moral  dignity?  To  trifle  with  a 
single  commandment  would  be  to  injure  one's  self 
and  to  jeopardize  society.  These  Ten  Command- 
ments know  us  in  the  totality  of  nature,  and  we 
can  only  escape  from  them  by  telling  lies  to  our 
souls.  They  are  rooted,  every  one  of  them,  in  our 
constitution.  They  give  us  a  right  view  of  God, 
and  a  right  view  of  our  fellow-man,  and  a  right 
view  of  self,  and  a  right  view  of  duty.  Ah,  that 
word  "duty  "  is  where  we  stumble.  We  do  not 
by  nature  like  the  word  "duty"  so  we  are  preju- 
diced against  the  Ten  Commandments.  We  ask, 
in  a  tone  of  depreciation,  What  is  this  law  from 
heaven?  Is  there  any  grace  in  it?  Is  there  any 
touch  of  love?     Is  there  any  trembling  of  pathos? 


248  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

Is  it  not  all  hard  iron?  Is  it  not  all  tremendous 
exaction?  Is  it  not  simply  a  pitiless,  tyrannous 
claim?  We  hate  the  word  "duty,"  therefore  we 
hate  also  the  very  name  of  "law."  Duty !  Duty ! 
Why,  duty  is  the  grandest  thing  to  which  any  man 
can  be  called.  When  faithfully  met  it  carries  in 
it  the  crown  of  eternal  life.  Our  questions  show 
that  we  are  not  just  to  the  innermost  meaning 
of  the  Ten  Commandments.  If  they  were  kept, 
would  they  not  sweeten  society?  Would  they 
not  watch  over  human  life  with  ineffable  tender- 
ness? If  every  one  kept  the  Ten  Commandments 
according  to  their  spirit  and  letter,  human  society 
would  be  free  from  all  evil  and  full  of  all  good. 
Communion  with  God  helps  us  to  read  aright  the 
commandments  of  God,  and  enables  us  to  keep 
company  with  their  inner  and  deeper  meaning. 
By  communion  with  God  we  reach  God's  mind 
relative  to  The  Decalogue  and  all  truth.  We 
understand  what  duty  is,  what  truth  is,  what  love 
is,  and  what  is  the  ultimatum  of  the  good  and  of 
the  bad. 

The  second  result  of  communion  with  God  which 
I  mention  is : 

2.  Inspiring  visions. 

No  life  had  more  sublime  visions  in  it  than  the 
beautiful  and  strong  life  of  Moses,  the  man  of  God. 
If  you  took  his  visions  away  from  him  you  would 
wholly  unmake  his  life.  There  was  a  time  in  his 
work  when  he  almost  decided  to  give  up  his  task 


RESULTS   OF  COMMUNION   WITH  GOD.     249 

and  surrender  to  what  seemed  to  him  to  be  the 
inevitable.  The  people  whom  he  tried  to  lead  into 
the  Land  of  Promise  kept  sinning  so  persistently, 
that  he  concluded  he  could  make  nothing  of  them. 
He  said  to  himself,  "  I  might  as  well  give  up  now, 
for  I  shall  have  to  give  up  by  and  by."  But 
did  he  give  up  ?  No.  Why  ?  God  strengthened 
him  by  a  vision.  He  had  said  to  himself,  "  These 
people,  by  their  repeated  backsliding  and  sin,  will 
some  day  so  provoke  God  that  He  will  blot  them 
out  of  existence."  So  God  came  to  him  and  gave 
him  a  vision.  He  hid  Moses  in  the  cleft  of  a 
mighty  rock  while  He  passed  by  him  in  His  glory, 
and  as  He  passed  by  He  proclaimed  His  name : 
"  I  am  the  Lord  God,  merciful  and  gracious,  long- 
suffering,  and  abundant  in  goodness  and  truth, 
keeping  mercy  for  thousands,  forgiving  iniquity  and 
transgression  and  sin."  Standing  before  the  vision 
of  these  magnificent  attributes  of  God,  the  discour- 
aged Moses  said,  "  If  this  be  the  disposition  of 
God  toward  sinning  man,  if  this  be  the  way  He 
forgives  and  forgives  and  forgives,  I  will  still  hold 
on  to  sinning  Israel."  And  he  started  forth  again 
in  his  leadership  with  a  new  zeal.  What  would 
have  been  the  result  if  that  vision  had  not  come? 
The  whole  future  trembled  in  the  balance :  the 
Promised  Land,  the  Kingdom,  the  coming  kings 
and  prophets,  the  writers  of  the  Bible,  the  Messiah, 
the  cross,  the  Gospel,  and  great-  Christendom  itself. 
Let   the  vision   fail   to  come,  and  down  goes  the 


250  OCR   BEST  MOODS. 

discouraged  Moses,  and  with  him  this  magnificent 
train.  But  Moses  entered  during  the  hour  of  his 
discouragement  into  communion  with  God,  and 
saw  God,  and  became  like  God.  Filled  with  God's 
tender  and  forgiving  spirit,  he  reached  forth  the 
hand  of  compassion  to  the  children  of  Israel. 

Mountain-tops  were  frequent  in  the  life  of  Moses, 
hence  he  saw  a  great  way  onward.  From  the 
summit  of  Sinai  he  saw  the  heights  and  the  depths 
of  the  Law ;  and  from  the  summit  of  Pisgah  he 
saw  Lebanon,  and  Hermon,  and  Mount  Zion,  and 
the  Jordan.  He  saw  right  into  the  heart  of  the 
Promised  Land.  These  visions  made  him  pure, 
and  ambitious  for  the  right,  and  enterprising,  and 
full  of  hope ;  and  enabled  him  to  die  confident 
that  the  future  of  his  cause,  which  was  God's 
cause,  would  be  all-glorious. 

As  the  seer  of  visions,  Moses  was  not  only  the 
lawgiver  of  Israel,  he  was  also  the  poet  of  Israel. 
The  true  poet  is  always  a  mountain- top  man. 
And  the  true  poet  always  has  a  mission  among 
men.  It  is  his  mission  to  idealize  the  real,  and 
beautify  and  glorify  the  commonplace  in  life.  It  is 
his  place  to  soar  for  his  fellow-men ;  to  commune 
with  God  for  his  fellow-men ;  to  see  visions  for  his 
fellow-men ;  to  be  an  inspiration  to  men ;  and 
to  teach  men  how  to  see  the  best  in  things  and 
persons.  It  is  his  to  sway  other  men's  minds  as 
the  storm  sways  the  tree-tops.  He  points  out  the 
spiritual  side  of  the  facts  of  life.      He  takes  man, 


RESULTS  OF  COMMUNION  WITH  GOD.     25  I 

chained  to  sense,  choked  by  scientific  sappers, 
helplessly  entangled  in  plodding  cares,  crushed  by 
gold  and  silver,  stunted  under  the  shadow  of  the 
warehouse  and  palace,  and  breaks  his  chain.  He 
lifts  him  into  clear  air,  shows  the  divine  side  of 
care,  interprets  sorrow,  anchors  the  soul  in  God, 
and  throws  about  the  simplest  act  an  eternal  sig- 
nificance. We  lose  our  visions ;  we  vulgarize  life. 
The  poet  by  his  visions  brings  back  our  Heals. 
He  shows  man  to  be  better  than  he  seems,  nature 
to  be  more  tolerant  and  kind,  and  God  more  mer- 
ciful. To  idealize  the  streets,  and  the  fields,  and 
the  sea,  and  the  mountains,  and  the  rivers ;  to  lift 
business  out  of  the  ruts  and  give  it  its  divine  inter- 
pretation ;  to  find  music  in  the  clattering  wheels 
of  the  factory ;  to  take  vulgarity  out  of  the  home, 
and  transfigure  the  humblest  duty,  until  passion 
becomes  patience  and  love  and  self-denial — is  to 
do  humanity  an  immeasurable  good. 

This  is  the  order  of  things  in  our  communion 
with  God.  From  God  we  get  knowledge,  and  out 
of  the  knowledge  which  we  get  from  God  we  grow 
visions.  Knowledge  is  like  the  acorn  which  we 
hold  in  our  hand ;  our  vision  is  the  possible  oak. 
For  example,  we  know  the  blessings  which  God 
gives  to  His  own  children ;  let  us  climb  to  the 
heights  of  ourselves,  and  by  a  consecrated  imagi- 
nation let  us  see  these  blessings  worked  out  in  our 
own  individual  life.  Let  us  forecast  our  future 
selves  what  we  should  like  to  be,  and  then  with  all 


252  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

our  might  let  us  work  toward  our  forecast.  In 
the  presence  of  God's  love,  and  in  the  light  of  His 
countenance,  we  ought  to  be  able  to  see  what  is 
possible  to  us  as  His  children.  This  communion 
Sabbath  should  bring  us  all  new  desires  for  better 
lives,  and  for  attainments  not  yet  reached,  and  for 
sweeter  dispositions,  and  for  purer  motives,  and  for 
nobler  deeds ;  in  this  sacred  presence  we  should 
all  see  better  things  ahead  of  us. 

The  third  result  of  communion  with  God  which 
I  mention  is : 

3.  Assimilation  to  the  image  of  God. 

Knowledge  received  from  communion  with  God 
when  applied  to  life  becomes  ideals  and  visions  to 
us ;  these  visions  and  ideals,  worked  toward  and 
finally  reached  by  us,  become  a  holy  incarnation, 
a  personal  transformation,  a  beautification  of  our 
soul  and  life  and  character.  A  holy  incarnation, 
a  transformed  personality,  a  beautiful  soul  and  life 
and  character — these  constitute  the  image  of  God 
in  us. 

We  are  assimilated  to  the  image  of  God  in  a 
twofold  way. 

First,  by  an  outward  influence :  i.e.,  by  living  in 
an  atmosphere  surcharged  with  God's  influence ; 
by  associating  with  God-like  men.  These  holy 
men  impress  themselves  upon  us,  and  we  grow 
like  them,  and  like  God  because  they  are  like 
God.  We  all  know  the  molding  power  of  sur- 
roundings.    The  child  in  the  home  is  an  illustra- 


RESULTS   OF  COMMUNION   WITH  GOD.     253 

tion.  It  soon  takes  on  the  family  character,  and 
becomes  the  facsimile  of  father  or  mother.  All 
things  in  the  home  have  an  influence  upon  it — 
the  touch  of  human  hands,  the  sound  of  human 
voices,  and  after  a  while  the  mysterious  light  of 
human  eyes,  when  the  child  begins  to  take  notice. 
This  home  influence  is  mightier  than  we  imagine, 
and  it  begins  earlier  than  we  dream. 

The  biographer  of  Lady  Willoughby  tells  this 
story  pertaining  to  her  mother-life.  She  was 
standing  at  her  window-casement  one  day  looking 
out  upon  the  lawn,  and  in  her  arms  was  her  infant 
child.  The  deer  were  playing  on  the  green,  and 
the  birds  were  singing  in  the  trees,  and  the  sun 
was  hanging  in  the  deep  blue  of  a  July  sky.  And 
the  face  of  her  little  child  in  the  midst  of  all  this 
was  shining  like  the  face  of  an  angel.  Just  then  a 
servant  of  the  household  who  had  disobeyed  came 
into  the  lady's  presence,  and  Lady  Willoughby 
began  to  scold  her.  While  the  scowl  and  shadow 
of  that  dark  passion  called  anger  was  on  her  face, 
she  suddenly  looked  down  at  her  child,  and  was 
startled.  What  startled  her?  She  saw  that  pas- 
sion of  anger  reflected  on  its  little  countenance, 
sinking  down  into  the  depths  of  the  child's  exist- 
ence, and  twining  itself  around  the  very  roots  of 
its  being.  Being  a  Christian  mother,  she  said  to 
herself,  "  This  is  wrong.  My  babe,  instead  of 
beholding  in  my  face,  as  a  living  mirror,  the  glory 
of  the  Lord,  and  being  changed  into  the  likeness 


254  0UR  BEST  MOODS. 

of  that  by  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord,  is  beholding  the 
scowl  and  shadow  of  that  dark  passion,  anger,  and 
is  being  changed  into  the  likeness  of  that."  Human 
nature  is  marvelously  susceptible  to  the  human  in- 
fluences in  the  midst  of  which  it  is  placed.  Hence 
we  must  look  after  our  human  associations,  and  keep 
ourselves  in  constant  touch  with  God-people.  We 
must  people  our  hours  with  lovely  presences  which 
refine.  We  must  be  companions  only  of  those  who 
fear  and  love  God.  Timothy  must  live  with  Paul 
and  let  Paul  make  him.  Ruth  must  live  with  Naomi 
and  let  Naomi  make  her.  Joshua  must  live  with 
Moses  and  let  Moses  make  him. 

The  second  way  in  which  we  are  assimilated  to 
the  image  of  God  is  by  the  inward  forces  wJiich 
zvork  in  onr  soul  outward.  These  inward  forces 
are  the  thoughts  we  think,  the  principles  we  hold, 
the  purposes  we  cherish,  the  volitions  of  our  will, 
the  dictates  of  our  conscience,  and  the  loves  which 
we  allow  to  sway  us.  If  these  are  God-like  they 
make  us  God-like.  That  we  may  bear  the  image 
of  God,  God  must  be  enthroned  in  the  soul,  and 
we  must  regulate  our  secret  soul-life  by  His  holy 
will.  We  must  think  as  He  thinks,  and  love  as 
He  loves,  and  act  as  He  acts.  Our  soul  and  God 
must  be  in  sweet  accord.  The  state  of  the  soul  is 
everything.  If  as  a  die  it  carries  in  it  the  image 
of  God,  it  will  stamp  that  image  not  only  upon 
our  whole  personality,  but  on  everything  we  do 
and  say  and  advocate. 


RESULTS   OF  COMMUNION   WITH  GOD.     255 

What  strikes  us  particularly  in  this  story  of 
Moses  is  the  fact  that  his  illumined  soul  so  shines 
that  its  brightness  irradiates  his  whole  form  and 
flashes  in  his  countenance.  His  body  becomes 
transparent  and  is  like  a  crystal  lobe  around  an 
electric  light.  His  communion  with  God  made 
him  a  man  with  a  solar  face.  It  gave  him  facial 
beauty.  His  very  body  was  a  partaker  of  his 
transfiguration  and  carried  the  marks  of  God.  And 
strange  as  this  may  strike  us  at  first  thought,  it  is 
nevertheless  according  to  the  operation  of  the  laws 
of  nature.  Our  thoughts  and  our  loves  are  chisels 
working  upon  our  faces,  keeping  them  smooth,  or 
else  cutting  into  them  lines  that  are  expressive. 

You  know  the  power  of  the  intellect  in  molding 
the  face.  Elevating  thoughts  remove  the  marks 
of  sensuality  and  replace  them  by  a  fineness  of 
lofty  self-control.  There  is  not  a  virtue  which,  if 
continually  exercised,  will  not  refine  and  leave  a 
new  fairness  upon  the  features.  You  know  what 
the  play  of  passion  will  do.  Take  the  passion  of 
a  noble  love.  It  always  gives  facial  loveliness.  It 
irradiates  a  man  as  the  sun  does  the  earth.  It 
gives  one  an  opulence  of  personal  magnetism. 
When  this  love  is  the  love  of  God,  it  is  the  great- 
est of  all  known  powers.  There  is  no  person,  if 
he  has  the  love  of  God  in  his  soul,  but  will  shine 
with  a  divine  outward  beauty.  We  saw  this  illus- 
trated last  winter  by  the  missionary  who  told  us 
of    the  progress   of    the   gospel    among  the   wild 


256  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

Indians  of  the  extreme  West.  He  threw  upon 
the  screen  life-size  pictures  of  the  Indian  children 
as  they  were  when  they  entered  the  Christian 
school,  and  then  he  threw  upon  the  screen  pict- 
ures of  these  very  same  children  after  they  had 
been  with  Christ  and  His  people  for  five  and  six 
years.  The  pictures  revealed  to  us  that  they  had 
passed  through  a  literal  transfi juration.  The  very 
features  of  their  faces  were  converted  to  Jesus 
Christ  and  partook  of  His  glory.  Those  pictures 
taught  us  that  if  we  sought  simply  physical  beau- 
tification  it  would  pay  us  to  live  with  God  and  for 
God.  Keep  holy  the  emotions,  think  exaltedly, 
feel  deeply  and  purely,  and  live  continently.  The 
divinity  within  shapes  the  divinity  without.  The 
soul  is  the  cardinal  beautifier. 

The  greatest  chemical  agency  in  the  known 
world  is  holy  love.  It  celestializes  the  face  of  a 
man.  It  haloed  the  countenance  of  Moses ;  and 
from  his  day  to  this,  all  nations,  when  they  would 
represent  men  as  possessed  of  extraordinary  sanc- 
tity, or  as  enjoying  large  and  familiar  intercourse 
with  God,  do  so  by  throwing  a  lucid  nimbus  or 
circle  of  glory  around  their  heads. 

Do  you  ask,  "  Why  am  not  I  a  luminous  person 
as  was  Moses?  I  love  God.  I  commune  with 
God  "  !  The  answer  to  your  question  is,  There  is 
a  large  difference  between  the  degree  of  your  love 
and  his.  There  is  a  difference  also  in  the  quality, 
mtenseness,  and  continuance  of  your  communion 


RESULTS  OF  COMMUNION   WITH  GOD.     257 

with  God  and  his.  Forty  days  and  forty  nights 
in  uninterrupted  communion  with  God  in  the 
mount !  Were  you  ever  that  long  in  communion 
with  God?  The  effects  are  not  wrought  in  you 
which  were  wrought  in  Moses  because  the  causes 
are  not  at  work  in  you  which  were  at  work  in  him. 
The  image  of  God  in  and  on  you  is  exactly  pro- 
portionated to  your  efforts  after  the  image  of  God. 
Causes  and  effects  always  correspond.  If  you 
make  a  certain  number  of  vibrations  in  the  air  you 
will  have  sound ;  increase  the  vibrations  and  you 
will  have  light.  As  is  the  cause  so  is  the  effect. 
Follow  God  moderately  and  you  will  be  a  fairly 
reputable  man ;  you  will  have  a  name  sounding 
fairly  well,  as  respectability  is  gauged  and  defined 
by  the  world ;  but  follow  the  Lord  fully  and  com- 
pletely as  the  supreme  thing  of  your  life,  and  you 
will  be  a  luminous  leader  of  your  fellow-men,  and 
a  Christ-power  enlightening  human  conscience. 
Bring  into  your  life  in  larger  measure  the  things 
which  Moses  brought  into  his  life,  and  you  will 
be  more  of  a  Moses. 

I  have  only  one  thought  to  present  in  closing, 
and  that  is  this : 

God  and  man  have  been  made  one  by  Jesus  Christ, 
and  so  fellowship  with  God  is  possible  to  all  tvlio 
love  Jesus  and  put  their  trust  in  Him. 

And,  my  fellow-men,  the  last  needed  act  of 
Jesus  which  consummated  the  unity,  and  bridged 
the  chasm  between  God  and  man,  was  that  act  of 


258  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

His  which  we  celebrate  to-day  in  the  Sacramental 
Supper,  viz.,  His  death  on  the  cross.  It  was  as 
He  died  that  He  cried,  "//  is  finished."  His 
gracious  words,  His  wondrous  works,  all  contribute 
to  bridging  the  distance  between  God  and  man, 
but  it  was  not  until  He  offered  Himself  a  sacrifice 
upon  the  cross  that  the  way  was  completed  be- 
tween heaven  and  earth  and  that  both  worlds 
heard  the  shout  of  the  Son  of  God. 

On  the  10th  of  May,  1869,  at  a  place  called 
Promontory  Point,  the  junction  was  made  com- 
pleting the  railway  communication  between  the 
Atlantic  and  the  Pacific  Oceans.  A  silver  spike 
was  brought  by  the  Governor  of  Arizona  and 
another  was  contributed  by  the  citizens  of  Ne- 
vada. They  were  driven  home  into  a  sleeper  of 
California  laurel  with  a  silver  mallet.  As  the 
last  blow  was  struck  the  hammer  was  brought 
into  contact  with  a  telegraph  wire,  and  the  news 
was  flashed  simultaneously  to  the  shores  of  the 
two  great  oceans,  and  was  enthusiastically  re- 
ceived throughout  the  vast  continent  by  the  roar 
of  cannon  and  the  chiming  of  bells.  When  the 
awful  abyss  between  God  and  man  had  to  be 
bridged,  the  deepest  chasm  was  covered  by  the 
outstretched  arms  of  the  Son  of  God ;  and  as  the 
cruel  spikes  crashed  through  His  open  palms  and 
transfixed  Him  to  the  cross,  He  cried,  "It  is  fin- 
ished;" and  swifter  than  electric  currents,  or  the 
lightning    flash,  the   tidings  were  winged   to  the 


RESULTS  OF  COMMUNION   WITH  GOD.     259 

uttermost  parts  of  the  two  worlds  united,  heaven 
and  earth.  Over  the  new  and  the  living  way  God 
has  come  to-day  to  greet  us  each  one,  and  hold 
communion  with  us,  and  communicate  His  glory 
to  us.  Let  us  come  to  His  table  as  Moses  climbed 
the  mount,  that  we  may  receive  from  Him  the 
communications  of  His  grace,  and  then  let  us  go 
to  our  homes  and  to  our  daily  avocations  with 
shining  faces. 

Lord,  Thou  hast  given  us  the  communion ;  grant 
now,  we  beseech  Thee,  the  shining  face.  May  we 
go  down  from  Thy  table  to  build  up  a  shining 
character  and  live  a  shining  life.  As  Moses  came 
down  from  the  mount  bearing  in  his  arms  the 
Decalogue,  may  we  go  down  from  Thy  table  bear- 
ing with  us  some  word  of  Thine :  even  the  words 
of  the  Master  Himself,  "  Ye  are  the  light  of  the 
world :  let  your  light  so  shine,  that  others,  seeing 
your  good  works,  may  glorify  your  Father  who  is 
in  heaven." 


XI. 


THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  CHRIST  THE  OLD 
TESTAMENT  SHEKINAH. 


XI. 


THE    NEW   TESTAMENT    CHRIST   THE 
OLD  TESTAMENT    SHEKINAH. 

"  And the  Glory  of  the  Lord  shone  round  about  them.'1'' — Luke  2  : 9. 

ALL  Christendom  is  on  a  pilgrimage  to  a  hamlet 
called  Bethlehem.  Bethlehem  is  crowded  to-day 
with  living  souls,  because  it  is  a  place  of  wonderful 
and  far-reaching  facts,  and  because  it  holds  the 
cradle  of  the  Christ- Child.  From  it  many  lines  of 
Christology  diverge,  and  these  are  all  different  and 
beautiful  and  interesting.  Around  no  one  spot 
has  God's  Book  thrown  greater  interest.  It  makes 
it  the  center  of  stories  full  of  witchery  and  thrill. 
These  stories  show  that  no  sooner  was  Jesus  born 
than  He  stirred  the  world  far  and  near.  The  com- 
ing of  the  Son  of  God,  from  the  bosom  of  His 
heavenly  Father  to  the  bosom  of  His  earthly 
mother,  moved  the  universe.  A  new  star  loomed 
in  the  sky,  and  guided  a  cavalcade  of  wise  men 
from  far-away  lands,  moving  amid  the  tinkling 
bells  of  camels,  to  the  place  where  the  young 
263 


264  0UR  BEST  MOODS. 

Child  lay.  The  angels  saw  Jehovah  in  a  fresh 
field  of  splendid  display,  and  followed  Him  to  the 
earth,  and  announced  His  presence  and  sang  His 
praise.  Shepherds,  watching  their  flocks  on  Christ- 
mas night,  saw  wonders  in  the  heaven,  and  heard 
audible  voices,  and  caught  strains  from  the  harps 
of  gold.  These  wonders  which  cluster  around  the 
Nativity,  and  which  Faber  calls  "  the  Hierarchy 
of  the  Incarnation,"  are  the  things  which  rule  our 
thoughts  to-day.  We  can  no  more  imagine  the 
Nativity  without  these  thrilling  events,  than  we 
can  imagine  the  evening  without  its  twilight;  or 
the  sun  without  its  clouds  of  silver  and  gold ;  or 
the  morning  without  its  glittering  dewdrops. 
They  are  the  poetic  adornments  of  the  Nativity, 
as  well  as  the  historic  facts  which  give  reality  to 
the  Incarnation. 

Among  all  the  beautiful  stories  connected  with 
the  origin  of  our  faith,  we  know  of  none  that  excels 
the  story  of  THE  GLORY-LIGHT,  which  threw  a 
sunburst  into  the  heart  of  midnight,  and  made  the 
plains  of  Bethlehem  flash  with  splendor.  It  is  the 
briefest  of  all  the  stories.  It  is  told  in  a  part  of  a 
sentence.  It  is  only  a  parenthesis  from  one  of  the 
sentences  in  the  story  of  the  shepherds :  "  And 
THE  Glory  of  the  Lord  shone  round  about 
them."  Although  it  is  a  story  in  a  single  phrase, 
it  contains  a  volume  of  revelation  concerning  Jesus 
Christ.  It  carries  in  it,  in  condensed  form,  much 
of  that  which  is  grand  and  magnificent  in  the  Old 


THE  NEW   TESTAMENT  CHRIST  265 

Testament.  Wrapped  up  in  it  is  the  history  of  the 
Shekinah;  for  "THE  Glory  of  THE  Lord" 
which  shone  at  Bethlehem  is  none  other  than  this. 
Again  and  again  in  the  Old  Testament  the  She- 
kinah is  called  "the  Glory  of  the  Lord." 
Hence  we  read :  "  The  Glory  of  the  Lord 
shone  out  of  the  pillar  of  cloud  and  fire  "  ;  "  The 
Glory  of  the  Lord  rested  over  the  taber- 
nacle" ;  "The  Glory  of  the  Lord  filled  the 
temple." 

The  Babe  in  the  manger  is  the  Shekinah  of  God, 
and  this  is  the  reason  the  angels  sing,  and  the  glory 
shines.  The  story  of  THE  GLORY-LIGHT  when 
rightly  developed  and  fully  told  has  a  wide  sweep. 
It  teaches  what  the  Nativity  brings  us.  It  gives 
honor  to  the  humiliation  of  the  Son  of  God,  and 
declares  the  majesty  of  the  Incarnation.  It  throws 
a  golden  haze  over  a  golden  picture.  It  indicates 
that  you  cannot  find  Christ,  anywhere  in  this 
Book,  separated  from  the  evidences  of  His  deity. 
Is  He  on  the  cross  dying  as  a  criminal?  His 
divine  power  convulses  nature.  Is  He  in  the  feed- 
trough  of  the  cattle  ?  His  divine  glory  lights  up 
the  skies.  Because  He  is  the  Son  of  God,  the 
story  of  the  Glory-light  is  one  of  the  most 
natural  parts  of  His  history. 

But  what  are  we  to  think  of  this  light  which 
the  shepherds  saw?  Was  it  the  Shekinah  on  its 
way  to  inhabit  the  Christ-Child,  so  that  it  might 
be  said,  "  In  Him  dwelleth  all  the  fullness  of  the 


266  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

Godhead  bodily  "  ?  Or  was  it  the  deity  that  was 
in  Him  already,  as  the  Incarnate  Son  of  God, 
throwing  out  a  manifestation  of  itself  from  the 
manger  in  a  mysterious  and  God-like  way?  It 
was  the  latter. 

Do  you  object  because  of  the  distance  between 
the  manger  and  the  plain?  That  was  no  distance 
for  Him  to  throw  His  glory.  On  an  after-occasion 
Jesus  threw  His  indwelling  splendor  all  the  way 
from  heaven  to  earth,  and  filled  the  road  to  Da- 
mascus with  a  brightness  that  made  the  light  of 
the  midday  sun  sickly  and  pale. 

This  is  the  fearless  and  safe  position  to  take,  for 
it  is  antipodal  and  counteractive  to  that  taken  by 
rationalists,  who,  by  their  naturalisms,  evaporate 
into  myths  these  thrilling  things  of  the  Nativity. 
Above  all,  this  is  the  Scriptural  position,  as  we  will 
see  in  the  progress  of  our  thought. 

In  taking  up  the  story  of  THE  GLORY-LIGHT 
as  told  at  Bethlehem,  we  do  not  mean  to  tie  our- 
selves to  it  as  to  a  mere  fact  which  any  historian 
might  record ;  we  mean  to  look  at  it  in  its  broad 
relations  and  suggestions,  that  we  may  get  from  it 
some  of  those  grand  Christie  realities  which  will 
give  new  life  and  power  to  our  faith  in  Christ  and 
to  our  worship  of  Christ.  Feeding  upon  bare 
facts  and  letting  the  great  doctrines  and  lessons 
contained  in  them  fall  to  the  ground,  is  passing 
through  the  golden  grain-fields  of  truth  and  pluck- 
ing ears  and  then  rubbing  out  the  wheat  and  eating 


THE    OLD    TESTAMENT  SHEKINAH.         267 

the  chaff.  Historical  facts  are  only  the  shells  that 
inclose  the  spiritual  meat. 

God  does  not  mean  to  tie  us  to  the  cradle  of 
the  Christ- Child  and  keep  us  there.  He  gives  us 
permission  to  bound  out  into  the  history  of  the 
Christ- Man.  The  mother  stands  by  the  crib  of 
her  babe,  but  she  is  not  tied  to  the  crib.  Bodily 
she  is  there,  but  mentally  she  is  not.  Like  Han- 
nah by  the  side  of  her  little  Samuel,  her  thoughts 
run  into  the  past  and  then  into  the  future.  She 
recalls  how  she  prayed  him  into  the  world,  and  she 
builds  up  for  him  a  future  ideal  life  and  character. 
The  cradle  of  her  babe  is  an  ark,  and  in  it  she  sails 
to  far  lands.  This  is  what  God  intends  she  shall 
do.  Even  so  God  intends  that  when  we  visit  the 
cradle  of  the  Christ- Child,  we,  like  her,  shall  give 
free  range  and  outlet  to  our  souls.  Swing  out,  O 
my  soul,  swing  out,  and  explore  the  glories  of  thy 
Redeemer  born  in  Bethlehem !  Recognize  this 
fact,  that  from  Bethlehem  gates  open  outward  on 
four  sides,  north  and  south  and  east  and  west,  into 
all  spheres  of  thought  and  truth;  just  as  in  the 
celestial  city  of  John,  gates  in  all  the  walls  open 
inward  to  spheres  of  light  and  glory.  Swing  out, 
and  gather  to  thyself  some  of  the  great  thoughts 
and  grand  lessons  belonging  to  this  period  of  joy ! 

In  the  study  of  this  Christmas  theme  we  hope 
to  fill  up  the  following  outline :  Watch  the  play 
of  the  Shekinah  in  its  conspicuous  appearances  of 
the  Old  Testament ;   identify  Christ  of  Bethlehem, 


268  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

the  Son  of  God,  with  the  Shekinah ;  set  forth  some 
of  the  facts  concerning  Christ  revealed  or  empha- 
sized by  the  Shekinah. 

I.  We  are  to  talk  of  the  play  of  the  Shekinah  in 
the  conspicuous  appearances  of  the  Old  Testament. 

But  why  go  back  to  the  Old  Testament  and 
deal  with  the  pictorial  Christ  when  we  have  the 
real  Christ?  For  this  reason:  that  we  may  have 
both.  Two  are  better  than  one.  But  are  not  the 
typical  pictures  of  Christ  mere  rubbish  now  that 
we  own  Christ  Himself?  No;  certain  schools  of 
theology  to  the  contrary.  These  Old  Testament 
pictures  are  doing  a  magnificent  work  as  educators 
in  the  Christian  Church.  They  are  divine  com- 
mentaries. They  are  the  products  of  a  keen- eyed 
artist,  and  they  exalt  and  emphasize  the  things  in 
Christ  to  be  made  prominent,  and  show  us  how 
God  looks  upon  Him.  Allow  me  an  illustration. 
An  artist  paints  the  landscape  on  the  farm  where 
you  were  reared  and  over  which  your  eye  ranged 
every  day  for  long  years.  You  look  at  his  finished 
picture  with  the  consciousness  that  you  are  a  com- 
petent judge  as  to  its  accuracy.  Your  critical  eye 
at  once  finds  a  tree  which  sets  off  the  picture,  or 
a  curvature  in  the  mountain  which  gives  it  grace. 
You  say,  "  I  admire  these ;  they  intensify  the 
beauty  of  the  landscape ;  but  they  are  not  true  to 
life,  and  they  have  no  right  in  the  picture.  Neither 
the  tree  nor  the  curvature  has  an  existence  in  fact. 
I  know  every  item  in  that  landscape."     The  artist 


THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  CHRIST.  269 

declares  that  they  have  a  nexistence  in  fact,  else  as 
a  truthful  man  he  would  not  have  put  them  on  the 
canvas.  He  maintains  that  his  picture  is  an  exact 
copy  of  nature.  To  prove  the  trueness  of  his  work, 
he  takes  you  to  the  landscape  itself;  and  to  your 
amazement,  both  tree  and  curvature  are  there. 
Your  eye  had  all  along  overlooked  them.  Thus  it 
is.  There  are  many  facts  in  Christ's  history,  many 
functions  in  His  offices,  many  beautiful  shadings 
in  His  character,  which  would  be  entirely  over- 
looked by  us  if  the  divine  pictures  of  the  Old 
Testament  did  not  set  them  forth  in  bold  and 
striking  outline.  There  are  not  two  Christs.  The 
men  who  know  most  of  Christ  are  the  men  who 
study  both  Testaments,  and  who  hold  to  the 
divinity  of  both.  If  what  we  have  said  be  true, 
we  should  be  stimulated  in  watching  the  play  of 
the  Shekinah  in  the  Old  Testament. 

The  Shekinah  has  a  larger  place  in  the  Bible 
than  is  generally  supposed.  It  is  in  every  book 
of  Moses.  You  meet  it  in  Joshua,  in  the  Book 
of  Kings,  in  the  Chronicles,  and  in  the  stories  of 
Ezra  and  Nehemiah.  The  Psalms  sing  of  it.  The 
prophets  refer  to  it.  It  reappears  in  the  New 
Testament,  and  you  meet  with  it  in  the  Gospels, 
and  in  the  Acts,  and  in  the  Epistles,  and  in  the 
Apocalypse.  Where  it  does  not  appear  boldly 
and  openly,  it  hides  itself  in  eloquent  allusions, 
and  in  figures  to  which  it  gives  origin,  and  which 
it  tinges  and  beautifies  with  its  golden  light.      If 


270  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

there  had  been  no  Shekinah,  these  words  would 
never  have  been  written :  "  We  beheld  His  glory, 
the  glory  of  the  only  begotten  of  the  Father,  full 
of  grace  and  truth."  If  there  had  been  no  She- 
kinah, these  words  would  not  have  been  written : 
"  He  was  the  brightness  of  the  Father's  glory  and 
the  express  image  of  His  person."  So  large  is  the 
place  accorded  to  it  by  inspiration,  and  so  wonder- 
ful are  the  deeds  ascribed  to  it,  that  instinctively 
as  we  read  the  Word  we  ask  ourselves,  What  was 
the  Shekinah?  The  only  answer  that  can  match 
its  prominence  is  this :  It  was  the  visible  embodi- 
ment of  Jehovah.  It  was  the  Son  of  God  dwelling 
in  light  that  is  inaccessible  and  full  of  glory.  He 
was  the  inner  essence  of  that  concentrated  glowing 
brightness. 

We  first  meet  the  Shekinah  at  the  gate  of  Para- 
dise in  the  form  of  "  the  flaming  sword."  The  Old 
Testament  begins  by  introducing  it,  just  as  the 
New  Testament  does.  Eden  and  Bethlehem,  the 
frontispieces  of  the  two  Testaments,  glow  with  its 
light.  The  record  in  Genesis  is :  "  So  God  drove 
out  the  man :  and  He  placed  [or  Shekinahed]  at 
the  east  of  the  garden  of  Eden  cherubim,  and  a 
flaming  sword  which  turned  every  way,  to  keep 
the  way  of  the  tree  of  life."  The  ordinary  reader 
sees  only  justice  here;  but  there  is  more  than 
justice,  there  is  mercy.  It  was  mercy  in  God  to 
turn  man  out  of  Eden,  for  had  he  eaten  there  and 
then  of  the  tree  of  life  he  would  have  perpetuated 


THE    OLD    TESTAMENT  SHEKINAH.         27 1 

his  misery.  Still  God  did  not  intend  to  keep 
man  forever  from  the  tree  of  life.  If  He  had  He 
would  have  plucked  the  tree  up  by  the  roots  and 
have  cast  it  into  the  fire.  No ;  God  wanted  man 
to  reach  it  in  the  right  way,  and  through  the  seed 
of  the  woman,  according  to  the  promise  just  given ; 
so  He  set  up  at  Eden,  what  we  afterward  find  in 
the  temple,  a  Holy  Place,  a  center  of  worship, 
where  man  was  taught  the  way  of  salvation  by 
the  symbols  of  the  cherubim  and  flaming  sword. 
When  it  is  said  that  Cain  and  Abel  came  to  wor- 
ship before  the  Lord,  it  is  meant  that  they  came 
to  this  Holy  Place.  When  it  is  said  of  Cain,  after 
his  sin  and  sentence,  that  "  he  went  out  from  the 
presence  of  the  Lord,"  it  is  meant  that  he  went 
away  from  this  Holy  Place.  It  was  in  this  place 
that  men  first  prayed,  "  O  Thou  that  dwellest 
between  the  cherubim,  shine  forth."  It  was  the 
mission  of  these  symbols,  "  flaming  sword  and 
cherubim,"  to  keep  the  way  of  the  tree  of  life.  If 
they  had  not  kept  it,  it  would  have  been  lost. 
Thus  we  see  there  was  cause  for  singing  the  song 
of  redemption  at  Eden  as  well  as  at  Bethlehem. 
Scarcely  was  the  dark  word  "sin"  written  on  the 
Bible-page,  when  the  bright  word  "  salvation " 
was  written  by  its  side.  Such  is  the  swift  action 
of  the  infinite  love  of  our  God,  that  even  while  the 
crash  of  the  fall  echoed  in  the  atmosphere,  the 
strokes  of  the  hammers  of  reconstruction  were 
heard. 


272  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

The  Shekinah  next  appears  conspicuously  in  the 
story  of  Moses.  It  appeared  to  him  in  the  burning 
bush,  and  called  him  to  his  great  life-work.  The 
shepherd  Moses  on  the  plains  of  Midian  saw,  and 
that  centuries  before  the  birth  of  Jesus,  what  the 
unnamed  shepherds  on  the  plains  of  Bethlehem  saw. 
The  bush  and  the  manger  were  joined  together  by 
a  pathway  of  Shekinah  light.  It  appeared  unto 
Moses  afterward  when  he  was  despairing  of  his 
life-work,  and  when  he  turned  for  hope  to  God, 
crying,  "  0  Lord,  I  beseech  Thee,  show  me  Thy 
glory."  In  answer  to  that  cry  Moses  saw  THE 
GLORY  OF  THE  LORD,  and  communed  with  God 
in  the  Shekinah,  and  returned  to  the  camp  with  a 
shining  face. 

After  the  time  of  Moses,  the  Shekinah  dwelt  for 
centuries  in  the  Holy  of  Holies,  in  tabernacle  and 
temple,  as  the  center  of  worship,  and  as  the  token 
of  God's  acceptance  of  His  covenant  people.  At 
the  destruction  of  Solomon's  Temple  it  was  with- 
drawn to  heaven  and  was  seeh  no  more  until  it 
blazed  over  Bethlehem  on  Christmas  night.  But 
the  most  prominent  appearance  in  the  time  of 
Moses  remains  to  be  noticed.  I  refer  to  its  ap- 
pearance in  The  Pillar  of  Cloud  and  of  Fire.  To 
me  this  is  the  most  wonderful  thing  in  all  the  his- 
tory of  the  Hebrews.  I  see  God  in  it,  as  the  cap- 
tain and  leader  of  the  covenant  hosts. 

Some  writers  try  to  explain  it  away  by  saying 
that   it  was   nothing  but   the  common  fire-signal 


THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  CHRIST.  273 

which  led  armies  in  ancient  times.  It  was  the 
custom  in  ancient  times  for  a  leader  to  go  before 
the  army,  holding  up  a  beacon  of  fire  and  smoke. 
The  cloudlessness  of  the  sky  gave  the  smoke  den- 
sity of  volume  and  uprightness  and  boldness  of 
outline,  so  that  it  could  be  seen  far  and  near.  But 
the  Bible  history  declares  that  the  guide  of  Israel 
was  not  an  ordinary  beacon-fire.  It  was  no  human 
creation.  No  human  hand  held  it  up.  No  human 
will  directed  its  course.  It  balanced  itself  in  mid- 
air, and  moved  without  the  aid  of  created  force. 
The  rains  could  not  quench  it;  the  wind  could  not 
scatter  it.  It  stood  as  solid  as  a  rock  amid  the 
fiercest  storms.  In  the  daytime  it  threw  its  folds 
out  like  a  canopy  and  protected  the  hosts  from  the 
scorching  sun ;  during  the  night-time,  when  it  led 
the  march,  it  blazed  before  them  like  a  torch-light, 
a  mile  high.  When  it  rested  the  camp  rested ;  when 
it  marched  the  camp  marched. 

What  a  day  the  coming  of  The  Pillar  of  Cloud 
and  of  Fire  must  have  been  to  the  Hebrews !  It 
was  Bethlehem  before  its  time.  It  was  a  genuine 
Christmas  to  the  covenant  people.  Think  of  that 
day !  Make  it  real  by  the  play  of  imagination ! 
Talk  to  your  heart  about  it!  What  must  have 
been  the  feelings  of  wonder  and  of  awe  in  the 
souls  of  the  Hebrews?  Were  they  warned  of  its 
approach?  And  did  they  all  go  out  under  the 
clear  sky  to  see  it  come  ?  If  so,  millions  of  faces 
were  turned  heavenward,  beaming  with  soul  and 


2  74  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

expectation.  A  magnificent  sight  even  for  God 
to  look  upon.  Who  was  the  first  to  see  the  dark 
speck  in  the  far  distance?  What  voice  was  the 
first  to  thrill  the  multitudes  with  the  cry  of  dis- 
covery, "  Yonder  it  is  "  ?  Oh  to  have  been  there, 
to  have  felt  the  solemn  stillness ;  and  then  the  wild 
rapture  at  the  sight  of  God  coming  to  His  people 
for  permanent  dwelling  and  guidance  and  protec- 
tion. The  dark  speck  approaches  and  deepens 
and  broadens  and  sweeps  earthward  until  it  rests 
overhead  a  massive  aerial  column.  We  can  see 
the  people  watching  it  with  penetrating  gaze  until 
the  shades  of  night  fall ;  and  then  we  can  see  a 
new  wonder  kindle  among  them  as  the  cloud- 
column  is  transformed  in  the  darkness  until  it 
blazes  before  them  a  pillar  of  fire. 

Perhaps  the  most  wonderful  work  wrought  by 
The  Pillar  of  Cloud  and  Fire  in  the  guidance  of 
Israel  was  the  victory  which  it  won  at  the  Red  Sea. 
When  the  pursuing  Egyptians  were  about  to  spring 
upon  the  trembling  Israelites,  The  Pillar  of  Cloud 
and  Fire  threw  itself  between  the  hosts.  It  turned 
its  luminous  side  toward  the  Hebrews  and  flashed 
a  noonday  splendor  over  all  the  Red  Sea,  which 
suddenly  rent  asunder  and  presented  its  bed  an 
open  highway  of  escape ;  but  it  turned  its  dark 
side  toward  the  Egyptians  and  threw  a  dark  pall 
over  them  which  blinded  them.  Some  people 
wonder  that  the  Egyptians  dared  to  follow  the 
Hebrews  into  the  bed  of  the  sea.     We  have  the 


THE   OLD    TESTAMENT  SHEKINAH.         2J$ 

explanation  here.  They  would  not  have  dared 
had  they  known ;  but  they  did  not  know.  They 
never  dreamed  of  the  Red  Sea  parting,  and  they 
did  not  see  it  part.  It  is  written  :  "  The  Pillar  of 
Cloud  was  darkness  to  them."  When  they  were 
well  into  the  midst  of  the  sea,  in  their  mad  pursuit, 
then  God  looked  out  from  The  Pillar  of  Cloud  and 
sent  from  it  His  lightning-bolts.  As  flash  upon 
flash  shot  through  the  sky  and  lit  up  the  scene  for 
the  moment,  then  it  was  that  the  Egyptians  recog- 
nized where  they  were.  This  recognition  filled 
them  with  panic  and  terror,  and  they  at  once 
sought  refuge  in  flight,  crying,  as  they  fled,  "  The 
Lord  fighteth  for  them."  You  can  easily  imagine 
what  followed ;  how,  in  the  confusion,  chariot 
dashed  against  chariot,  until  multitudes  of  chariots 
were  unwheeled  and  the  flight  was  impeded.  This 
gave  the  Hebrews  time  to  reach  the  other  shore, 
and  left  their  foes  in  the  bed  of  the  sea  when  the 
waters  returned  to  their  channels. 

With  these  incidents  from  the  Old  Testament 
before  us,  showing  the  functions  of  the  Shekinah, 
we  are  ready  to  deal  with  the  second  part  of  our 
outline,  viz.  : 

II.  To  shoiv  the  identification  of  the  Shekinah 
with  Christ  of  Bethlehem. 

This  involves  two  steps :  first,  to  show  that  the 
Shekinah  and  Jehovah  the  Son  of  God  are  one ; 
and  second,  to  show  that  Christ  of  Bethlehem  and 
Jehovah  the  Son  of  God  are  one.     If  they  both 


276  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

be  Jehovah  the  Son  of  God,  they  are  therefore 
one  and  the  same  person.  To  establish  this  iden- 
tification is  a  mere  matter  of  Scripture  quotation. 
Two  direct  texts  are  all  we  need.  Can  they  be 
found?  They  can.  One  text  is  Exodus  33  :  9-1 1. 
It  applies  the  name  "Jehovah"  to  the  Shekinah 
in  The  Pillar  of  Cloud.  In  it  "Jehovah  "  and  "  The 
Pillar  of  Cloud  "  are  interchangeable  terms.  Now 
this  is  nothing  short  of  complete  identification. 
Leaving  out  the  italicized  words,  which  are  inter- 
lopers, the  text  reads :  "And  it  came  to  pass,  as 
Moses  entered  into  the  tabernacle,  The  Cloudy 
Pillar  descended  and  stood  at  the  door  of  the  tab- 
ernacle and  talked  with  Moses.  And  all  the  people 
rose  up  and  worshiped.  And  the  Lord  spake  unto 
Moses  face  to  face,  as  a  man  speaketh  unto  his 
friend."  First  it  is  said  The  Cloudy  Pillar  spake 
to  Moses,  then  it  is  said  the  Lord  spake  to  Moses, 
thus  identifying  Jehovah  and  the  Shekinah  cloud, 
and  teaching  that  they  were  one  and  the  same. 

But  is  the  identification  of  Christ  with  Jehovah 
as  clear  as  the  identification  of  the  Shekinah  with 
Jehovah?  Yes.  The  question  brings  forward  the 
second  needed  text  of  Scripture.  It  is  John  1:18. 
This  text  declares  that  all  revelations  of  God  at  all 
times  have  been  given  by  the  Son  of  God.  Now 
revelations  were  given  through  the  Shekinah  of 
the  Old  Testament,  therefore  the  Shekinah  of  the 
Old  Testament  must  have  been  the  Son  of  God. 
This  second  text  was  spoken  by  John  concerning 


THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  CHRIST.  277 

Jesus  of  Nazareth,  and  it  calls  Him  the  Son  of 
God.  If  the  Shekinah  be  the  Son  of  God,  and  if 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  be  the  Son  of  God,  they  are 
one.  This  second  text  reads :  "  No  man  hath 
seen  God  at  any  time ;  the  only  begotten  Son, 
who  is  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  He  hath  de- 
clared Him."  The  text,  you  see,  sweeps  over  the 
past ;  it  takes  in  all  prior  revelations,  including 
those  given  by  Jehovah  of  the  Old  Testament; 
and  it  declares  that  all  these  were  given  by  the 
Son  of  God,  whom  John  in  the  context  calls  Jesus 
Christ. 

To  confirm  this  identification,  THE  GLORY- 
LIGHT  shone  at  Bethlehem  when  Jesus  was  born. 
To  confirm  this  identification,  the  Transfiguration 
of  Christ  took  place  one  dark  night  on  the  mount. 
His  robes  and  face  dazzled  and  shone  with  Sheki- 
nah glory.  The  grand  purpose  of  the  Transfigu- 
ration was  to  demonstrate  that  Jesus  was  THE 
Glory  of  the  Lord,  the  Shekinah,  in  human 
clothing,  and  that  there  was  within  Him  the  same 
inwrapped  inner  splendor  which  in  the  olden  days 
dwelt  in  The  Pillar  of  Cloud.  If  the  Shekinah 
had  not  been  within  Him,  it  could  not  have  lit  up 
His  countenance  and  His  robes.  To  confirm  this 
identification,  His  earthly  life,  which  began  with 
the  shining  of  His  glory,  closed  with  the  shining 
of  His  glory.  Wrapped  in  the  Shekinah  cloud, 
He  ascended  from  Olivet  and  swept  out  of  sight. 
To  confirm  this  identification,  we  are  told  that  in 


278  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

heaven  He  enjoys  a  perpetual  transfiguration,  and 
the  out-flashing  of  His  glory  fills  the  whole  of  the 
celestial  domain.  "  They  need  no  sun,  neither  the 
light  of  the  moon :  for  the  Lamb  is  the  light 
thereof." 

I  imagine  at  this  point  a  voice  saying:  "But 
what  of  all  this?  What  if  Jesus  Christ  be  the 
Shekinah?  "  Why,  if  Jesus  be  the  Shekinah,  then 
from  the  Shekinah  we  learn  what  Jesus  Christ  is 
and  does.  We  learn  His  character  and  functions. 
Why,  if  Jesus  Christ  be  the  Shekinah,  then  the 
unity  of  the  true  religion  is  manifest.  The  ancient 
Hebrew  and  the  modern  Christian  worship  the 
same  God.  The  Bible  is  one  book,  and  the  two 
Testaments  are  one  revelation.  Why,  if  Jesus 
Christ  be  the  Shekinah,  then  all  the  glory  of  the 
God  of  the  Old  Testament  is  His.  It  is  a  mighty 
comfort  to  the  Church  collectively  and  to  Christians 
individually,  to  be  able  to  wheel  into  the  line  of 
Christ's  works  those  sublime  events  of  the  past  out 
of  which  rise  the  eternal  good  of  God's  people.  I 
mean  the  events  wrought  by  the  Shekinah  and  re- 
corded in  the  Old  Testament.  The  God  of  the 
Old  Testament  is  the  grand  and  mighty  God. 
Does  Jesus  Christ  contain  in  Himself  all  that  He 
contained,  then  Jesus  Christ  is  the  grand,  mighty 
God,  and  our  covenant  relations  with  Him  should 
beget  an  abiding  sense  of  security.  But  I  am 
discussing  the  last  part  of  my  outline  without  an- 
nouncing it.      It  bids  me — 


THE    OLD    TESTAMENT  SHE  KIN  AH.         279 

III.  Enumerate  the  facts  concerning  Christ,  re- 
vealed and  emphasized  by  the  Shekinah.  These 
are  the  goal  of  our  present  study,  and  toward  these 
we  have  been  pressing. 

1.  The  Shekinah  reveals  the  divine  will,  and 
illumines  and  guides  the  people  of  God :  so  docs 
Jesus  Christ  of  Bethlehem. 

For  this  end  was  He  born.  He  is  the  organ  of 
communication  between  God  and  man.  He  is  to 
the  Father  what  language  is  to  thought — the  visi- 
ble expression.  He  that  hath  seen  Him  hath  seen 
the  Father.  He  uttered  the  most  luminous  say- 
ings ever  breathed  into  our  atmosphere.  He  re- 
gave  the  law  and  spiritualized  it.  He  corrected 
human  errors.  He  taught  men  how  to  live  by 
showing  them  a  perfect  life.  He  leads  us  to-day, 
by  giving  us  His  shining  footsteps.  Light  leaps 
from  His  words  as  electricity  leaps  from  the  clouds. 
By  His  Holy  Spirit  He  leads  the  Church  as  The 
Pillar  of  Cloud  led  Israel.  The  Book  of  the  Acts 
makes  this  plain,  and  demonstrates  what  He  does 
for  the  Church  through  His  Spirit.  There  is  a 
higher  Canaan  and  a  new  Jerusalem,  and  Christ  is 
guiding  us  thitherward.  He  will  continue  to  guide 
us,  until  we  stand  by  the  river  of  life  which  is  there, 
and  eat  of  the  tree  of  life  which  is  there,  and  join 
our  ransomed  friends  who  are  there. 

2.  The  Shekinah  is  the  center  of  worship  :  so  is 
Jesus  Christ  of  BetlilcJiem. 

No  sooner  was  Christ  born  than  He  was  recog- 


280  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

nized  as  the  glory  of  the  Holy  of  Holies  in  the 
temple  of  God,  and  was  made  the  center  of  wor- 
ship. Heaven  and  earth  gathered  around  the 
Christ-Child  in  the  manger.  Angels,  lifted  into 
a  fervor  of  wonder,  sang  as  they  never  sung  be- 
fore, and  the  sweet  strains  of  their  inner  jubilee 
breaking  forth  made  the  worship  around  the 
Throne  audible  on  earth.  Angels,  magi,  shep- 
herds, all  these  worshiped.  Far-away  lands  wor- 
shiped. The  immediate  neighborhood  worshiped. 
Learning  worshiped.  Industry  worshiped.  The 
trinity  of  earth,  myrrh  and  frankincense  and  gold, 
bowed  before  the  Trinity  of  heaven.  Age  wor- 
shiped, and  so  did  manhood  in  its  prime.  Mary 
singing  her  Magnificat,  and  the  angels  their  Gloria 
in  Excelsis,  and  the  shepherds  glorifying  God  and 
telling  what  they  saw  on  the  plain,  and  the  wise 
men  narrating,  during  the  interludes  of  their  wor- 
ship, their  wonderful  experience  with  the  luminous 
finger  in  the  sky  which  pointed  to  Bethlehem ;  and 
the  aged  Anna  offering  her  prayer  of  thanksgiving, 
and  the  venerable  Simeon  holding  with  holy  rapt- 
ure the  Child  in  his  arms  and  singing  his  doxology 
— all  this  seems  to  us  like  a  beautiful  poem,  and 
it  is ;  but  more  than  that,  it  is  a  page  of  prose 
history  crowded  with  thrilling  realities.  It  is  a 
type  and  a  picture  of  what  is  now  and  what  shall 
be  forever ;  for  Christ  will  always  be  the  center  of 
worship. 

3.    The  Shekinah  protects  the  people  of  God  and 


THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  CHRIST.  28 1 

subdues   their   enemies :   so   does  Jesus    Christ   of 
Bethlehem. 

We  have  seen  how  the  Shekinah  was  the  defense 
of  Israel  at  the  Red  Sea.  In  Jesus  Christ  the  same 
person  now  acts  in  defense  of  the  Church.  He 
who  took  a  horde  of  slaves  out  of  the  grasp  of  the 
mightiest  monarch  and  made  them  a  nation  which 
has  done  more  service  for  God  and  for  humanity 
than  all  other  nations  combined,  He  it  is  who  is 
the  King  and  Head  of  the  Church.  God  hath 
given  Him  to  be  Head  over  all  things  to  the 
Church,  and  He  shall  reign  until  He  has  put  all 
things  under  His  feet.  He  is  at  every  Red  Sea 
crisis  of  Christendom,  and  His  command  is,  "  Speak 
to  the  children  of  Israel  that  they  go  forward." 
The  violent  gale,  the  thunder  and  lightnings,  the 
darkness,  the  boom  of  the  distant  waters,  the  panic 
and  the  confusion,  all  these  agencies  which  com- 
bined to  defeat  Egypt,  the  great  world-power,  in 
its  attack  upon  Israel,  the  covenant  people  of  God, 
have  their  counterpart  in  the  forces  which  Christ 
has  set  at  work  for  the  defeat  of  the  enemies  of 
the  truth  in  the  nineteenth  century.  The  Son  of 
God  to-day,  as  in  the  past,  throws  Himself  between 
His  people  and  their  sore  danger.  He  threw  Him- 
self, with  Shekinah  splendor,  between  the  trembling 
Church  and  the  persecuting  Saul.  When  the  poor 
persecuted  Covenanter,  who  fled  up  the  mountain 
steeps  pursued  by  the  dragoons  of  Claverhouse, 
sent  his  cry  up  to  Him,  "  Lord,  throw  Thy  mantle 


282  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

over  poor  Sandy,"  He  at  once  flung  a  garment  of 
mist  from  the  sky,  and  wrapped  it  around  Sandy 
and  the  mountain ;  and  the  bloody  Claverhouse 
was  baffled  and  the  doomed  victim  escaped. 

When  Spain  sent  forth  its  formidable  Armada 
to  persecute  and  to  kill,  He  heard  the  cry  of  His 
devoted  people,  and  dashed  the  ships  of  their  foes 
into  pieces.  In  the  interests  of  His  people  the 
Son  of  God  commands  nations,  hurls  the  lightning 
shafts,  and  sways  all  the  forces  of  the  universe. 
He  is  in  all  of  the  judgments  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  and  He  guides  them  past  His  people,  and 
directs  them  straight  against  the  citadel  of  their 
foes.  Issue  your  decree,  O  Pharaoh,  and  consign 
the  infants  to  the  Nile!  Issue  your  decree,  O 
Haman,  and  doom  all  the  covenant  people  to  ex- 
termination !  Issue  your  decree,  O  Herod,  and 
bathe  your  sword  in  the  bodies  of  the  babes  of 
Bethlehem,  that  you  may  destroy  the  new-born 
Christ !  But  know  this,  ye  wicked  rulers  of  the 
earth :  God's  decrees  antedate  yours  and  over- 
shadow yours,  and  will  inevitably  annihilate  yours. 
God  has  a  smooth  stone  ready  to  smite  every  Go- 
liath of  evil. 

4.  The  Shekinah  exercises  an  assimilating  power 
in  the  lives  of  God's  people :  so  does  Jesus  CJirist 
of  Bethlehem. 

The  presence  of  the  Shekinah  was  a  wonderful 
and  a  sanctifying  force  in  Israel.  It  kept  the 
thought  of  God  alive.     The  people  felt  it  to  be  a 


THE    OLD    TESTAMENT  SHEKINAH.         283 

holy  thing,  and  their  thoughts  of  it  made  them 
holy.  One  instance  is  given  of  its  wonderful  power 
to  assimilate  and  transfigure.  It  is  the  shining  face 
of  Moses.  Talking  with  God  in  it,  he  absorbed 
some  of  the  glory  of  the  Shekinah.  He  reflected 
the  communicable  attributes  of  God,  as  the  snow 
summits  reflect  the  splendors  of  the  sunset.  His 
shining  face  suited  his  shining  graces.  It  symbol- 
ized the  great  fact  that  by  drawing  near  to  God 
we  become  like  God.  "  With  open  face  beholding 
the  glory  of  God" — i.e.,  beholding  Christ — "we 
are  changed  into  the  same  image  from  glory  to 
glory." 

The  sight  of  Christ  made  the  face  of  Stephen 
shine  like  the  face  of  an  angel.  No  doubt  the 
shepherds  and  the  wise  men  returned  to  their  flocks 
and  to  their  books  with  shining  faces.  Christ  makes 
us  a  Shekinah,  that  is,  an  habitation  of  God ;  and 
when  He  does,  not  only  do  our  graces  shine, 
but  our  faces  shine.  The  illumined  soul  shines 
through  the  fleshly  envelope  which  enshrouds 
it,  just  as  the  brightly  burning  lamp  makes  the 
porcelain  shade  transparent.  When  the  soul  is 
worked  up  into  a  fellow-feeling  with  Christ,  it  is 
a  shining  light.  Christ  born  within  us,  the  hope 
of  glory,  transforms  and  transfigures  our  whole 
being,  until  we  become  His  facsimile,  and  until  we 
become  so  luminous  that  we  can  walk  the  crystal 
streets  of  heaven  without  casting  the  least  shadow. 

Such  are  some  of  the  Christmas  thoughts  brought 


284  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

us  by  the  story  of  THE  GLORY-LIGHT  We  wel- 
come the  story  and  the  season  which  it  adorns. 
This  is  one  of  the  joy  seasons  of  the  Christian  year. 
It  is  the  season  which  should  make  us  feel  that 
glory  bursts  over  the  earth  through  Jesus  Christ. 
It  is  the  season  which  should  make  childhood 
sweeter,  and  motherhood  holier,  and  Christ  more 
glorious,  and  Christians  more  devoted  and  trustful 
and  worshipful. 

The  Glory-light  and  the  angel-carol  declare 
it  to  be  a  season  of  joy  and  of  sacred  song.  Angels 
of  God,  roll  your  carols  over  the  earth,  and  let 
them  echo  among  the  stars!  Church  bells,  ring 
out  a  jubilee,  and  call  the  race  to  Christ!  Sacred 
harps  and  organs,  respond  to  the  hand  that  sweeps 
your  strings  and  flies  over  your  keys,  and  turn  this 
common  air  around  us  into  praise !  Church  of 
God,  take  up  the  old  doxology,  first  sung  thou- 
sands of  years  ago  in  honor  of  the  revealed  Christ, 
and  sing  it  anew  with  all  thy  might : 

"  Blessed  be  Jehovah,  the  God  of  Israel: 
Who  alone  doeth  wonders  : 
Yea,  blessed  be  His  glorious  Name  forever ; 

And  let  the  whole  earth  be  filled  with  His  glory, 
Amen  and  amen." 


XII. 


THE   POSSIBILITIES  OF  YOUNG  MEN  IN  OUR 
GREAT   CITIES. 


XII. 

THE     POSSIBILITIES     OF    YOUNG    MEN 
IN    OUR    GREAT    CITIES. 

"  Then  Daniel  purposed  in  his  heart  that  he  wait  Id  not  defile  him- 
selfwith  the  portion  of  the  king's  meat,  nor  with  the  wine  xvhich  he 
drank." — Daniel  i  :  8. 

I  WISH,  as  the  introduction  to  my  sermon,  to 
relate  the  story  of  which  the  text  forms  a  part, 
and,  having  related  the  story,  I  wish  to  draw  from 
it  some  points  for  the  elucidation  of  my  theme. 
The  story  is  an  old  one,  but  it  is  apropos  to  my 
topic.  It  is  a  tale  of  four  young  men,  who,  cent- 
uries ago,  were  lifted  out  of  the  quietude  of  their 
country  homes  and  pushed  right  into  the  midst  of 
the  city  life  of  Babylon,  the  metropolis  of  the  world. 
And  how  did  they  sustain  themselves  ?  That  is  what 
the  story  tells  us.  And  what  were  their  possibili- 
ties in  Babylon  ?  That  also  is  what  the  story  tells 
us.  What  they  did  in  Babylon  young  men  of  their 
type  can  do  in  New  York  and  Brooklyn. 

The  story  runs  on  this  wise : 
287 


288  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

During  one  of  the  early  incursions  of  the  Chal- 
dean army  into  Palestine  it  happened  that  four 
Hebrew  youths  were  made  captives  and  carried 
to  Babylon.  Their  names  were  Daniel,  Hananiah, 
Mishael,  and  Azariah.  When  they  reached  the 
great  city  they  were  placed  in  the  king's  palace, 
the  most  exposed  circle  in  all  the  city.  It  was 
the  custom  in  ancient  times  when  one  nation  con- 
quered another  nation  to  select  sons  from  the  con- 
quered nation  and  train  them  for  positions  of  power 
at  the  seat  of  government.  In  this  way  the  con- 
quering nations  conciliated  the  conquered.  In 
this  way  also  they  secured  for  themselves  new 
talent,  and  strengthened  the  government.  The 
sons  chosen  were  usually  young.  They  were  lads 
from  fourteen  to  seventeen.  Such  could  easily  be 
molded.  Their  prejudices  were  not  strong  enough 
to  keep  them  from  adopting  the  new  nation  as  their 
nation.  Daniel  and  his  comrades  were  selected 
by  the  King  of  Babylon  according  to  the  custom 
of  their  times,  and  the  ordinary  results  were  ex- 
pected. But  the  very  first  chapter  of  the  Book 
of  Daniel  begins  by  telling  us  that  the  results 
expected  were  not  realized.  Hebrew  parents  so 
trained  their  sons  that  when  they  reached  the  age 
of  fourteen  they  were  grandly  confirmed  in  their 
fathers'  religion,  and  in  loyalty  to  their  country. 
Daniel  and  his  comrades  stand  as  the  exponents  of 
the  value  of  an  early  religious  education.     Though 


YOUNG  MEN  IN  GREAT  CITIES.  289 

only  in  their  teens,  they  thought  for  themselves 
and  for  themselves  recognized  what  duty  to  God 
and  country  was.  They  knew,  too,  that  duty, 
like  God,  is  an  ever-present  thing.  They  argued 
that  what  was  duty  and  principle  in  their  Judaean 
home  was  duty  and  principle  in  the  city  of  Baby- 
lon, and  their  reasoning  was  correct.  Place  does 
not  affect  or  change  duty.  Conscience  is  not  a 
diing  confined  to  latitude  or  longitude.  In  every 
thing  and  in  every  place  we  should  be  conscien- 
tious. 

These  young  men  carried  with  them  constant 
reminders  of  their  God  and  of  their  religion.  Their 
names  were  such  reminders.  Their  names  were 
covenant  names.  They  were  compounded  with 
the  name  of  the  Most  High  God,  and  were  signifi- 
cant. Young  men,  we  should  make  more  of  our 
covenant  names  than  we  do.  Children  of  the 
Church,  the  names  which  you  received  in  baptism 
should  be  a  defense  to  you  in  the  hour  of  tempta- 
tion. You  should  speak  thus  to  your  own  hearts  : 
"  I  have  been  named  with  the  name  of  the  blessed 
Trinity.  I  have  a  Christian  name,  and  I  will  not 
dechristianize  it  by  committing  sin.  Named  by 
the  name  of  the  holy  God,  I  must  and  I  will  keep 
myself  pure  for  God." 

Realizing  the  power  of  a  sacred  name,  the  King 
of  Babylon  changed  the  names  of  these  young 
men.      He  gave  them  names  related  to  his  heathen 


20.0  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

idols.  Daniel  he  called  Belteshazzar,  Hananiah 
he  called  Shadrach,  Mishael  he  called  Meshach, 
Azariah  he  called  Abed-nego.  But  these  heathen 
names  would  not  stick.  Young  as  these  four 
Hebrews  were,  Nebuchadnezzar  was  too  late  in 
making  the  change.  Their  true  names  were  en- 
graven on  their  souls,  and  were  all  alive  with  the 
memories  of  their  fathers'  God  and  their  mothers' 
faith.  Besides  this,  they  were  written  upon  the 
crystal  pages  of  the  Lamb's  Book  of  Life,  the  reg- 
ister of  the  everlasting  covenant. 

The  incident  in  the  story  which  is  especially 
brought  before  us,  and  which  tests  and  sets  off  the 
character  of  these  young  men,  is  that  which  per- 
tained to  the  regulation  of  their  diet — their  con- 
duct in  their  boarding-house.  Great  care  was 
taken  of  their  diet.  There  was  a  special  officer 
appointed  to  look  after  it.  So  anxious  was  the 
king  for  their  growth  and  development,  that  he 
furnished  their  meals  from  the  royal  table.  The 
best  of  the  season  was  put  before  them.  They 
were  fed  on  luxuries.  Wine,  and  seasoned  meats, 
and  brandied  puddings,  and  spiced  cakes,  and  con- 
fectioneries of  all  kind  were  on  the  table  and  within 
their  reach.  How  hard  it  is  to  discipline  a  boy's 
appetite  when  sitting  at  a  loaded  table !  How 
cruel  the  prohibitions  of  parents  seem !  Cracked 
wheat,  and  rolled  oats,  and  simple  bread  and  but- 
ter! These  things  are  fairly  despised  in  compar- 
ison with  puddings,  and  pies,  and  pastries,  and  ices, 


YOUNG  MEN  IN  GREAT  CITIES.  29 1 

and  wine  sauce,  and  candied  grapes,  and  tutti 
frutti.  Will  these  Hebrew  boys  eat  the  king's 
food  ?  Why  not  ?  They  have  keen  appetites,  and 
their  palates  can  appreciate  these  royal  dainties. 
Besides,  the  king  commands  them  to  eat.  Dis- 
obedience in  the  form  of  refusal  to  eat  will  render 
them  liable  to  punishment.  To  decline  will  make 
them  marked  and  peculiar.  Will  these  Hebrew 
boys  eat  the  king's  food?  Why  not?  There  are 
a  multitude  of  reasons  why  not.  The  food  from 
the  king's  table  has  been  set  apart  and  consecrated 
to  idols.  To  eat  of  it  means  to  identify  one's  self 
with  idols.  Now,  identification  with  idols  is  treason 
against  the  true  God.  Besides  this,  the  regimen 
and  menu  of  the  king's  table  is  contrary  to  the 
dietetic  laws  under  which  God  has  put  the  Hebrew 
nation.  It  contains  food  which  God  has  pronounced 
ceremonially  unclean.  The  question  with  these 
Hebrew  boys  was  this :  "  Shall  we  act  according 
to  conscience,  or  shall  we  act  according  to  appe- 
tite? Conscience  or  appetite?  Which?"  At 
once,  and  without  a  moment's  hesitation,  they  an- 
swered:  "We  will  act  according  to  conscience." 
And  according  to  conscience  they  did  act.  Give 
me  young  men  who,  when  appetites  and  passions 
clamor  for  gratification,  can  call  forth  conscience 
and  will  and  all  the  higher  faculties  of  their  higher 
nature  and  can  issue  the  command,  "Down,  pas- 
sion! down,  appetite!  " 

These   Hebrews   the   moment   they   were   con- 


292 


OUR  BEST  MOODS. 


fronted  by  temptation  registered  at  once  a  purpose 
of  heart  to  resist  it.  They  studied  and  weighed 
their  situation  and  their  duty,  and  out  of  their 
study  grew  an  intelligent  conviction.  Into  this 
conviction  they  put  all  the  power  of  their  will,  and 
then  won.  My  fellow-men,  nothing  is  accom- 
plished apart  from  will  power.  We  neglect  duties 
for  the  most  part  simply  because  we  do  not  will  to 
do  them,  and  do  not  put  our  will  into  them.  Duty 
should  always  be  married  to  resolve. 

We  know  their  resolution.  Let  us  see  how  they 
carried  it  out.  It  was  met,  as  we  would  naturally 
surmise,  by  opposition.  The  head-officer  to  whom 
they  communicated  it  greeted  them  with  a  "  Tut, 
tut!  it  is  nonsense,  it  is  nonsense!"  He  pooh- 
poohed  their  theory  as  a  boy's  idea;  and  he  said 
he  could  not  entertain  it  for  a  single  moment.  If 
he  allowed  any  infringement  of  the  laws  of  the 
house  or  any  disparagement  of  the  king's  table, 
he  himself  would  suffer  for  it.  He  then  tried  to 
reason  with  them  by  telling  them  that  their  diet 
would  show  in  their  faces.  The)/  would  be  pale 
and  haggard  if  they  fed  only  on  pulse  and  water. 
Their  companions  and  competitors,  with  their  ruddy 
cheeks  and  clear  complexions,  would  shame  them 
when  they  appeared  before  the  king.  Nothing 
daunted  by  a  first  refusal,  they  still  pressed  their 
case.  They  said,  "  Give  us  a  trial  of  but  ten  days, 
and  then  compare  us  with  our  competitors."  This 
method  was  so  intensely  practical  and  so  fair  that  it 


YOUNG  MEN  IN  GREAT  CITIES.  293 

could  not  be  rejected.  When  the  ten  days  were  up 
their  faces  were  put  side  by  side  with  the  faces  of 
the  king-fed,  and  they  won  the  day.  Cold  water 
and  plain  food  always  defeat  wine  and  sumptuous 
living.  Their  faces  were  the  furthest  possible  re- 
move from  the  pimpled  faces  of  the  high  livers. 
They  were  fair  and  shining.  Besides  this,  they 
had  in  them  the  illumination  of  an  honest  heart 
and  an  approving  conscience.  They  reflected 
the  beauty  of  holiness.  Thus  it  always  is :  the 
good  stands  a  competitive  examination,  and  wins. 
Moses  floors  Jannes  and  Jambres,  and  Daniel  and 
his  comrades  excel  the  Chaldean  astrologers,  and 
the  man  of  simple  food  outlives  and  outworks  the 
wine-bibber  and  gormandizer.  Daniel,  we  are 
told  in  this  story,  outlived  whole  dynasties.  He 
remained  in  power  while  several  successions  of 
kings  passed  away.  He  treated  his  body  well, 
and  in  this  he  did  right ;  for  the  body  is  the 
temple  of  God  through  the  indwelling  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  and  it  is  neither  to  be  defiled  nor 
maltreated  nor  neglected.  We  are  to  keep  it  in 
temperance  and  in  soberness  and  in  chastity ;  we 
are  to  keep  it  from  the  heat  of  lust  and  from  the 
wear  of  over-exertion.  Viewed  from  any  stand- 
point, the  neglect  of  sanitary  laws  is  a  sin.  Hygiene 
is  an  angel  of  God  both  to  the  soul  and  to  the 
body.  It  means  health  of  body  and  spirituality 
of  soul.  Among  the  crying  wants  of  humanity 
to-day  is  better  hygiene.      Men  want  to  eat  less, 


294  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

and  to  eat  fewer  things.  There  are  ten  people  in 
the  city  that  are  overfed  to  one  person  that  is 
underfed.  I  say  this  not  in  the  interest  of  those 
who  keep  our  boarding-houses,  for  the  Lord  knows 
that  if  some  of  our  young  men  have  not  meager 
enough  diet  it  is  not  the  fault  of  boarding-house 
keepers ;  but  I  say  it  in  the  interest  of  those  who 
sit  at  the  table  and  who  eat  indiscriminately.  I 
know  Paul  says,  "  Eat  whatsoever  things  are  set 
before  you,  and  ask  no  questions;  "  but  I  know 
just  as  well  that  Paul,  when  he  said  that,  was 
speaking  of  a  free  lunch,  and  at  a  free  lunch  that 
is  the  only  mannerly  thing  to  do. 

But  let  us  hear  the  conclusion  of  the  whole 
matter.  The  result  of  the  stand  for  conscience 
which  these  young  men  took  upon  coming  to 
Babylon,  was  this :  it  gave  them  a  diet  which 
proved  conducive  to  study,  health,  and  work,  and 
it  kept  their  minds  clear  and  well-poised,  and 
built  up  the  whole  man.  Finally,  when  they 
appeared  before  the  king  to  receive  their  com- 
missions for  life,  they  excelled  all  who  competed 
with  them  and  were  preferred  by  the  king.  They 
outranked  all  the  wise  men  of  the  city,  and  took 
the  highest  places  of  the  kingdom.  Do  you  ask, 
What  are  the  possibilities  of  young  men  when 
they  come  into  the  city  ?  This  story  answers, 
Everything  good  and  great  and  grand  is  among 
their  possibilities.  The  highest  places  in  com- 
merce, and  in  the  law,  and  in  the  ministry,  and  in 


YOUNG   MEN  IN  GREAT  CITIES.  295 

medicine,  and  in  the  workshop,  and  in  the  state, 
are  among  their  possibilities.  They  can,  if  they 
will,  take  the  city,  and  hold  the  city,  and  control 
the  city.  Thus  it  was  in  Babylon,  and  what  was 
possible  in  Babylon  is  possible  in  New  York  and 
Brooklyn.  The  same  virtues  succeed  and  rule  in 
all  ages  and  in  all  places. 

I  am  not  alone  in  believing  that  if  the  young 
men  in  our  cities  will  only  be  Daniels  they  can 
have  Daniel's  success.  I  have  been  talking  with 
others  upon  this  subject,  and  I  find  that  this  is  the 
conviction  of  many. 

I  asked  one  of  the  most  prominent  and  most 
successful  of  our  New  York  merchants  the  other 
day :  "  What  can  a  young  man  coming  from  the 
country  become  in  New  York?"  What  do  you 
think  his  reply  was  ?  It  was  this :  "  I  came  into 
the  city  of  New  York  a  young  man,  and  two  thirds 
of  the  successful  merchants  in  the  city  to-day 
came  as  I  came."  The  essence  of  his  answer  was 
this :  what  the  respected  and  influential  and  suc- 
cessful merchants  of  to-day  have  become,  our 
young  men  who  are  entering  upon  life  may  be- 
come. A  young  man  coming  to  the  city  and  be- 
ginning life  in  the  city  is  like  a  seed.  We  cannot 
see  all  that  is  in  a  seed.  We  must  be  instructed 
as  to  what  is  in  it.  Some  one  must  take  the 
acorn,  for  example,  arid  plant  it,  and  nurture  it, 
and  evolve  from  it  the  oak,  and  from  the  oak 
evolve  the  forest,  before  we  can  know  how  much 


296  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

is  in  the  acorn.  Even  so  some  one  must  grow  the 
young  man  that  we  may  know  what  is  in  him. 

Our  successful  men  of  the  city  who  in  years 
gone  by  came  from  rural  homes  are  the  grand  oaks 
in  the  human  forest  of  to-day,  and  they  show  us 
the  possibilities  of  the  latest  acorns  come  to  town. 

I  asked  a  leading  citizen  of  Brooklyn  :  "  Do  you 
think  that  the  chances  of  young  men  who  come  to 
our  cities  to-day  are  as  good  as  the  chances  of 
young  men  were  when  you  came  to  the  city?" 
His  reply  was :  "  There  are  more  young  men  in 
our  cities  now  than  there  were  when  I  entered  life, 
but  there  are  more  young  men  needed.  There 
are  thousands  of  more  places  open  to  young  men, 
and  calling  for  young  men."  Then  he  continued  : 
"  We  older  men  can  live  only  so  long,  and  when 
we  go  our  places  will  be  vacant  for  those  who  im- 
mediately press  after  us.  You  may  count  upon  it, 
that  in  thirty  years  almost  our  entire  population 
will  have  changed."  This  certainly  means  all  the 
chances  that  young  men  could  ask.  Then  he  added 
confidentially  :  "  Look  at  the  young  women  in  our 
homes.  I  tell  you  that  fathers  are  on  the  lookout 
for  young  men  who  have  the  snap  and  the  true 
metal  in  them,  to  act  as  trustees  of  their  noble 
daughters  and  their  fortunes.  But  mark  you,  they 
must  be  grand  young  men  and  good  young  men." 
Honesty  requires  me  to  say  that  this  man  had  no 
daughters  of  his  own.  But  I  must  add  further  that 
he  was  a  sensible  man,  and  I  believe  capable  of  judg- 


YOUNG  MEN  IN  GREAT  CITIES.  297 

ing  fathers  who  have  daughters.  He  himself  had 
certainly  married  according  to  the  doctrine  which 
he  preached,  for  he  spoke  as  a  rich  son-in-law. 
He  said  nothing  of  the  mothers  in  our  cities,  he 
spoke  only  of  the  fathers.  As  a  rule  I  imagine 
mothers  are  not  as  favorable  to  young  men  who 
have  just  come  to  town  as  fathers  are.  But  what 
of  this  ?  What  moral  is  there  in  it  ?  This  :  Young 
men,  begin  your  attentions  and  intentions  with  the 
mothers.  Let  them  see  the  best  that  is  in  you. 
Win  them,  and  then  your  call  at  the  pastor's  study 
will  come  as  a  matter  of  course. 

I  asked  another  man,  a  Bostonian,  a  man  who 
employs  many  young  men,  "  Do  you  think  that 
young  men  coming  to  the  city  can  compete  with 
rich  men's  sons  who  are  city-born?"  His  reply 
was  quick  and  sharp  :  "  Certainly.  They  not  only 
can  compete,  but  they  can  win.  Rich  men's  sons 
lack  self-reliance  and  grit  and  perseverance  and 
economy.  The  Dandy  Fifth  is  an  exception.  In 
employing  young  men,  my  preferences  are  two  to 
one  in  favor  of  the  young  men  who  come  to  us." 
I  asked,  "  What  advice  would  you  give  young  men 
as  they  start  in  life  in  our  cities?"  He  replied: 
"  First  of  all,  I  think  I  would  tell  them  to  use  their 
patience,  and  to  hold  on  to  their  position  and  their 
work  like  grim  death."  He  gave  as  his  reason  for 
this  advice  the  following :  Young  men  have  heard 
of  fabulous  wealth  acquired  at  a  single  turn  of  the 
wheel,  and  they  expect  to  get  along  too  rapidly, 


298  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

and  become  rich  too  soon.  Now  if  a  man  would 
make  money  lawfully  he  must  give  an  equivalent 
for  it.  He  must  give  as  much  of  an  equivalent  in 
the  city  as  he  gives  in  the  country.  "  Tell  young 
men  to  be  patient.  Tell  them  not  to  leave  their 
situations  because  everything  is  not  precisely  what 
they  would  wish,  or  because  their  employer  be- 
comes unruly.  Tell  them  that  if  they  expect  to 
rise  they  must  work  their  way  up  inch  by  inch,  and 
they  must  work  long  and  work  hard.  Tell  them 
that  they  must  be  patiently  faithful  in  little  things." 
Young  men,  there  is  a  great  deal  of  common 
sense  in  this  advice.  We  are  not  willing  to  be 
patient  and  faithful  in  dealing  with  trifles,  with 
little  things.  We  want  to  be  busy  with  large 
things.  We  want  to  flash,  and  soar,  and  be  con- 
spicuous, and  walk  on  mountain-tops.  We  want 
to  be  Niagaras,  and  have  majestic  sweep,  and 
deafening  roar,  and  white  foam,  and  flashing  rain- 
bows. We  forget  that  the  pathway  to  Niagara  is 
from  the  single  water-drop  to  the  tiny  spring  which 
is  almost  invisible,  and  from  the  tiny  spring  to  the 
trickling  rill,  and  from  the  trickling  rill  to  the  bab- 
bling brook,  and  from  the  babbling  brook  to  the 
river-branch,  and  from  the  river-branch  to  the 
river  itself,  and  then  down  the  broad  channel  of 
the  river,  gathering  tributary  and  tributary,  until 
at  last  the  plunge  is  made  over  the  high  rocks. 
Becoming  a  Niagara  means  beginning  with  the 
little  drop  and  moving  gradually  and  grandly  on 


YOUNG  MEN  IN  GREAT  CITIES.  299 

toward  the  vast  body  of  water  which  leaps  the 
rocks  with  foam  and  roar  and  sparkling  rain- 
bows. 

But  I  must  cease  acting  the  reporter,  and  come 
back  to  the  story  of  my  text.  It  tells  us  that 
young  men  upon  coming  to  our  cities  may,  if  they 
so  will  it,  make  the  grandest  success  of  their  life 
in  the  city.  They  may  reach  the  highest  places 
in  every  department.  Now  the  practical  question 
comes :  How  ?  I  can  only  indicate  two,  or  at 
most  three,  brief  answers,  and  leave  them  with 
you  for  a  further  development.  These  answers 
are  suggested  by  the  story  of  the  text. 

1 .  In  the  first  place,  success  in  our  city  comes  to 
a  young  man  through  triteness  to  his  character. 

And  here  let  me  say  it  is  not  the  city,  it  is  the 
man  himself  that  is  everything.  The  city  is  only 
the  occasion  calling  out  the  man.  If  evil  be  in  the 
man  it  will  come  out  of  him  everywhere,  country 
and  city.  All  the  evil  of  the  world  is  not  in  the 
city.  Let  me  give  you  a  single  item  from  my  ex- 
perience. I  was  born  in  the  city,  and  brought  up 
in  the  city ;  but  when  I  reached  the  age  of  fifteen 
I  left  the  city  and  went  to  a  college  in  the  country. 
I  was  a  young  man  from  the  city.  I  was  sent  to 
the  country  for  protection.  But  what  I  wish  to 
relate  is  the  first' thing  that  happened  to  me  upon 
going  to  the  country.  It  was  this :  the  first  stu- 
dent whose  acquaintance  I  made,  a  country  youth 
three  years  older  than  myself,  asked  me  to  spend 


300  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

my  first  evening  at  college  by  going  out  to  a  farm- 
er's orchard  to  steal  apples.  Did  I  go?  I  did 
not.  The  farmer  had  a  large  dog.  But  I  must  be 
just  to  my  first  country  acquaintance  and  tell  you 
the  full  story  of  my  relations  with  him.  He  is 
now  in  one  of  the  leading  pulpits  of  the  city  of 
New  York.  He  came  to  New  York  when  I  was 
pastor  there,  and  I  went  to  hear  him  preach  his 
first  sermon.  I  had  never  heard  him  preach.  I 
was  a  little  late,  so  as  I  entered  the  church  he  was 
reading  the  Scripture  lesson,  and  these  were  the 
first  words  which  I  heard  from  his  lips  as  a 
preacher,  the  words  of  Paul :  "Let  him  that  stole, 
steal  no  more."  His  first  words  as  a  minister 
to  me  counteracted  his  first  words  as  a  fellow- 
student. 

The  point  which  I  want  to  make  is  this :  the  city 
is  only  the  interpreter  of  a  man.  I  cannot  give 
you  an  exact  diagnosis  of  a  man  in  the  quietness 
of  a  rural  village.  He  is  hemmed  in  by  the  senti- 
ment of  his  rural  home.  The  eyes  of  all  the  com- 
munity are  upon  him,  and  he  must  walk  straight. 
If  he  does  not  his  business  will  leave  him.  Char- 
acter and  cash  depend  upon  his  being,  seemingly 
at  least,  a  true  man.  There  is  no  crowd  there  in 
which  he  can  hide  himself.  I  cannot  tell  whether 
he  be  acting  out  his  true  self  or  not.  But  let  me 
watch  that  man  as  he  lives  one  week  in  the  city 
and  I  will  diagnose  his  character  for  you.  What 
does  he  wish  most  of  all  to  see  in  the  city  ?     What 


YOUNG  MEN  IN  GREAT  CITIES.  30 1 

are  the  places  which  he  frequents  ?  Who  are  the 
people  with  whom  he  strikes  an  acquaintance? 
What  are  the  things  which  he  avoids  as  he  moves 
among  people  who  know  him  not  ?  At  what  does 
he  laugh?  At  what  does  he  weep?  For  what 
does  he  spend  his  money  ?  Which  is  popular  with 
him,  the  church  or  the  theater,  the  prayer-meeting 
or  the  circus,  the  refined  art- gallery  or  the  show- 
window  hung  with  the  low  prints  of  actresses 
photographed  for  carnal  eyes?  These  are  leading 
questions,  and  their  answers  reveal  the  man. 

How  many  young  men  come  into  our  cities  and 
go  headlong  to  ruin!  They  come  from  the  pure 
atmosphere  of  a  father's  home,  but  no  sooner  do 
they  reach  here  than  they  fling  off  all  moral  re- 
straint. They  ally  themselves  with  evil  society, 
feed  the  gross  appetites  of  their  lower  natures, 
give  free  rein  to  their  desires.  The  result  of  all 
this  you  well  know.  Their  whole  being  is  soon 
demonized.  They  are  early  stricken  with  dire 
consequences.  The  flush  of  health  leaves  their 
faces,  and,  devitalized  and  consumptive,  they  go 
back  to  their  homes  to  die.  Ah!  this  is  sad,  sad, 
very  sad.  But  such  cases  occur  every  year  by 
the  hundreds.  From  hundreds  of  rural  homes  to- 
day the  bitterest  of  curses  are  issued  against  the 
city  because  of  the  fall  of  noble  sons.  I  do  not 
wish  to  shield  our  cities  against  a  single  righteous 
curse  ;  every  evil  within  the  city  should  be  cursed  ; 
but  I  wish  to  be  fair.      I  wish  to  set  fact  and  truth 


302  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

before  rural  homes,  and  before  young  men  from 
rural  homes.  Nine  tenths  of  these  ruined  young 
men  fell  before  they  set  foot  in  the  city.  They 
fell  in  their  inner  nature,  in  their  secret  longing, 
before  they  started  from  home.  They  fell  spirit- 
ually in  their  father's  house.  Reading  of  the  sinful 
pleasures  of  the  city,  they  gloated  over  these  in 
private,  and  lived  with  them  in  thought,  and  made 
these  possible  sins  actualities  by  the  power  of  im- 
agination in  the  secrecy  of  their  own  souls.  When 
they  came  here  the  city  only  gave  them  an  op- 
portunity to  act  themselves  out.  The  city  only 
made  visible  that  which  was  invisible.  I  would 
ring  it  out  through  all  the  land  to-day  that  the 
danger  which  besets  young  men  in  coming  into 
the  city  begins  in  their  far-away  homes — begins 
in  the  plans  which  they  make  for  sight-seeing 
before  they  receive  their  mother's  good-by  kiss. 
Young  men,  bring  a  true  personality  with  you  into 
the  city,  bring  with  you  minds  filled  with  holy  re- 
solves, bring  with  you  consciences  which  can  de- 
tect and  abhor  sin,  bring  with  you  hearts  that  can 
compassionate  the  fallen  and  weep  over  them,  bring 
with  you  the  Christ-spirit,  and  the  city  will  be  for 
you  a  magnificent  stage  for  a  magnificent  drama 
of  life — a  field  for  the  culture  of  your  higher 
nature,  a  sphere  for  the  wide  play  of  all  your 
faculties,  and  an  outlet  into  places  of  power  and 
usefulness  which  the  righteous  God  has  every- 
where prepared  for  a  righteous  manhood. 


YOUNG  MEN  IN  GREAT  CITIES.  303 

2.  Success  conies  to  a  young  man  in  the  city 
only  when  lie  is  true  to  himself  and  develops  him- 
self. 

The  development  of  self  is  a  great  work,  and 
requires  many  things. 

//  requires  that  you  shall  hold  self  to  a  strict 
account. 

Away  from  home,  away  from  the  restraints 
which  were  once  thrown  around  you  by  loving 
friends,  you  must  be  a  restraint  to  yourself.  You 
must  convert  your  liberty  into  loyalty.  You  must 
keep  life  under  the  inspection  of  conscience.  Be 
severe  with  yourself ;  be  rigid  and  conscientious 
even  to  the  border  of  what  the  free-and-easy  would 
call  morbidness.  Measure  yourself  by  some  high 
moral  and  spiritual  standard,  and  say  to  your  soul, 
"  Soul,  you  must  equal  that."  As  a  man,  you 
have  this  wonderful  power.  You  can  go  out  of 
yourself,  and  picture  yourself  in  the  third  person, 
and  criticise  yourself;  you  can  say,  when  you  do 
not  like  yourself:  "  I  ought  to  be  more  than  that. 
I  ought  to  be  better  than  that.  I  am  misshapen, 
ill  formed,  undeveloped.  I  hate  and  detest  that 
old  self ;  I  will  strive  after  the  other  and  higher 
self,  which  as  yet  is  only  an  ideal."  You  have  the 
power  to  put  yourself  into  helpful  contrast  with 
others  who  are  better. 

Do  you  remember  that  wondrous  book  of  Vic- 
tor Hugo's,  where  Jean  Valjean,  the  escaped  con- 
vict, meets  with  the  old  bishop,  who  lovingly  talks 


304 


OUR  BEST  MOODS. 


to  him,  and  breaks  him  down  by  his  forgiveness? 
Do  you  remember  how  he  contrasts  himself  with 
that  affectionate  and  noble-hearted  bishop,  and 
then  projects  himself  outside  of  himself  and  loathes 
and  turns  away  from  the  old  Jean  Valjean,  and 
determines  to  be  something  better  than  that  ?  It 
was  because  he  did  that  that  he  became  what  he 
afterward  was — the  noble-hearted  Jean  Valjean, 
the  mayor  of  the  city,  a  man  tender  and  true  in 
every  fiber  of  his  being. 

The  development  of  self  requires  that  you  shall 
have  large  faith  in  the  possibility  of  the  noble  and 
the  true  in  human  life. 

Whenever  I  see  a  young  man  who  has  lost  his 
ideals,  and  who  is  satisfied  with  a  few  face-quali- 
ties, who  ceases  to  believe  with  all  his  might  in 
anything,  who  has  lost  his  faith  in  honor  and  in 
integrity  and  in  virtue,  I  see  a  young  man  who  is 
already  lost.  Every  young  man  should  have  an 
Excelsior  in  his  soul.  There  should  be  within  him 
a  sense  of  the  possibility  of  incarnating  the  fine 
and  the  noble  and  the  true.  Young  man,  when 
you  say  that  all  men  are  a  sham,  and  that  there  is 
nothing  but  the  low  and  the  selfish  and  the  carnal 
and  the  untrue  and  the  unchaste  in  the  world,  you 
tell  your  soul  that  which  is  not  true ;  and  you  for- 
ever fetter  all  your  higher  powers.  Allow  me  to 
say  to  you  that  Jesus  Christ  was  a  reality,  and 
that  Jesus  Christ  in  all  His  moral  beauty  and  per- 
fection is  this  very  day  finding  a  thousand  fac- 


YOUNG  MEN  IN  GREAT  CITIES.  305 

similes  in  humanity.  The  belief  in  this  is  the  first 
step  toward  your  higher  and  better  self. 

The  development  of  self  requires  constant  and 
ceaseless  effort  and  sacrifice.  So  does  every  grand 
product.  All  the  triumphs  of  genius  and  of  moral 
being  are  the  embodiments  of  hard,  persistent 
work,  and  tension  and  sacrifice.  If  the  harp  wishes 
to  fill  the  air  with  solemn  and  soul-stirring  music, 
it  must  give  up  all  of  its  strings  to  be  so  stretched 
that  they  will  almost  break.  But  out  of  this  ten- 
sion and  strain  come  delightful  harmonies,  and 
wave  upon  wave  of  rapturous  sound.  The  music 
of  a  true  Christian  personality  is  like  the  ringing 
of  the  chimes  of  heaven  on  earth,  and  the  striking 
of  the  harps  of  gold ;  but  every  faculty  in  the 
harp-nature  of  man  must  be  keyed  up  to  the  con- 
cert pitch  of  heaven.  Will,  conscience,  imagina- 
tion, reason,  the  faculty  of  emotion,  the  memory, 
all  must  be  brought  into  accord  with  the  perfect 
human  nature  of  Jesus  Christ. 

A  Christian  personality  means  effort.  Yes,  so 
does  every  grand  product.  Nothing  can  be 
achieved  without  work  and  expenditure.  Every- 
thing costs.  Light  is  the  result  of  the  burning  of 
the  candle.  The  rosy  apple  is  the  whole  year  of 
life  lived  by  the  tree.  The  golden  flower  is  just 
so  much  expenditure  of  the  sun.  Everything  that 
is  worth  an  existence  costs.  It  cost  Angelo  some- 
thing to  construct  the  dome  of  St.  Peter's.  He 
had  to  build  it  up  and  tear  it  down  in  his  mind ; 


3<d6  our  best  moods. 

rebuild  it  and  modify  it,  before  he  could  fling  it 
abroad  as  a  second  sky. 

The  development  of  self  requires  that  you  shall 
love,  and  love  that  which  is  good. 

You  must  get  out  of  your  own  thoughts  and 
feelings  and  sympathies,  and  live  for  something 
beyond  yourself.  I  trust  you  have  read,  and  so 
will  remember,  George  Eliot's  story  of  "  Silas 
Marner."  Silas  Marner,  disappointed  and  soured 
by  the  experience  of  his  early  life,  becomes  a  her- 
mit miser.  Bitter  against  all  the  world,  life  has 
no  significance  for  him  any  longer,  except  as  he 
can  hoard  up  a  little  pile  of  gold,  and  so  put  him- 
self beyond  the  need  of  dependence  and  out  of 
communication  with  his  fellow-men.  Every  night 
he  takes  out  the  shining  coins  and  comforts  him- 
self by  counting  them  over  and  over.  Thus  he 
does  until  at  length  one  night  a  human  waif,  a 
little  forsaken  baby-girl,  is  thrown  on  his  doorstep. 
This  child  he  feels  compelled  to  take  in  and  give 
shelter,  and  to  adopt  as  the  child  of  his  heart  and 
of  his  care.  As  a  result  he  comes  again  into  con- 
tact with  humanity,  and  is  transfigured  and  made 
a  man  once  more.  He  has  something  to  love ;  and 
love  enlarges  his  soul.  Young  men,  have  some- 
body to  love;  somebody  who  is  good  and  pure  and 
inspiring.  Love,  for  example,  some  noble  young 
woman.  If  the  love  be  reciprocated,  you  will  be  in- 
spired and  lifted  to  a  region  in  which  you  will  rise 
higher  and  higher.      No  greater  human  power  can 


YOUNG  MEN  IN  GREAT  CITIES.  307 

come  into  a  man's  life  than  the  power  which  ema- 
nates from  the  pure  love  of  a  noble  woman — a  love 
that  penetrates  as  perfume  does  ;  that  never  sleeps  ; 
that  divides  every  thought  and  every  feeling ;  and 
that  turns  service  and  hard  work  into  pleasure. 
Such  a  love  transforms  and  transfigures.  Goethe 
hath  well  said : 

"  The  woman-soul  leadeth 
Us  upward  and  on." 

In  the  life  of  man  there  is  first  the  soul  of  the 
mother  ruling  and  leading,  and  then  by  and  by 
there  is  the  soul  of  the  wife  ;  and  the  two  together, 
the  mother  and  the  wife,  make  the  man.  It  is  the 
loving  and  loved  woman  that  determines  the  man. 
The  real  man  is  the  woman  he  carries  in  his  heart. 
If  she  be  an  angel  of  a  woman,  she  will  make  him 
an  angel  of  a  man ;  but  if  she  be  a  demon  of  a 
woman,  she  will  make  him  a  demon  of  a  man. 
The  letting  of  a  noble  woman's  love  into  your  life 
is  like  letting  the  sunbeam  into  the  great  clouds 
that  float  in  the  dome  above.  The  sunbeam  makes 
the  vapory  mass  beautiful  with  its  many  delicate 
tints  and  burning  hues.  Never  in  life's  experience 
is  there  a  further  remove  from  all  that  is  earthly 
than  when  one  soul  reads  all  its  destiny  in  another. 
It  is  not  strange,  therefore,  that  when  Paul  speaks 
of  the  union  which  consummates  such  love,  he 
compares  its  mystery  to  that  which  unites  the 
Church  and  Christ. 


308  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

Let  a  man  love  anything  purely  and  disinterest- 
edly, and  he  will  be  a  better  man  for  that  love — 
less  selfish  and  more  appreciative  of  the  good.  In 
preaching  this  I  am  not  preaching  a  novelty,  some- 
thing that  I  have  discovered.  This  was  known 
away  back  in  the  days  of  Socrates  and  Plato. 
Back  there,  men  used  to  reason  in  this  way  about 
love  :  Let  a  man  begin  by  loving  one  beautiful  form, 
and  from  the  love  of  the  one  he  will  rise  to  the 
love  of  many  beautiful  forms.  From  loving  beau- 
tiful forms  he  will  rise  to  the  love  of  beautiful 
practices.  From  the  love  of  fair  practices  he  will 
rise  to  the  love  of  fair  ideas.  From  the  love  of 
fair  ideas  he  will  rise  to  the  love  of  the  person  who 
thinks  the  fair  ideas.  From  the  love  of  the  noble 
thinker,  the  magnificent  woman,  he  will  step  over 
into  eternal  love  and  eternal  friendship  with  God, 
the  Creator  of  the  magnificent  woman,  whose 
divine  Spirit  is  the  holy  power  within  her,  making 
her  magnificent.  The  pathway  of  a  noble  woman's 
love  is  the  pathway  that  leads  to  God. 

Only  a  few  weeks  ago  I  saw  a  simple  illustration 
of  this  point  which  I  am  pushing.  I  was  walking 
across  the  Boston  Common  behind  a  young  couple 
in  the  full  vigor  of  budding  manhood  and  woman- 
hood. She  was  an  art  student,  and  he  was  an 
admirer  of  just  such  an  art  student.  Gallantly  he 
was  carrying  her  books  and  utensils,  and  the  two 
were  earnestly  conversing.  As  I  passed  them  I 
overheard    her    say,    "  But    there    is    a    moral    in 


YOUNG  MEN  IN  GREAT  CITIES.  309 

what  you  mean  to  do ;  you  certainly  wish  to 
put  your  whole  uprightness  into  it."  That  is  all 
I  heard,  and  I  naturally  looked  into  the  face  of 
the  speaker.  To  use  Bronson  Alcott's  phrase,  it 
was  "  a  solar  face,"  and  shone  with  purity  and 
spiritual  life.  Back  of  her  fine  words  the  young 
woman  put  a  winning  smile ;  and  I  could  see  that 
that  smile,  which  expressed  hope  and  confidence, 
and  even  admiration,  sent  her  words  to  the  very 
core  of  the  young  man's  being.  The  flush  that  suf- 
fused his  cheek  told  this.  He  was  charged  and  sur- 
charged to  the  full  with  moral  electricity.  Good  res- 
olutions fairly  crackled  in  his  finger-tips,  and  lofty 
purposes  sparkled  in  his  eyes.  I  said  to  the  friend 
who  was  walking  with  me, "  That  was  well  said  ;  that 
good  advice  was  effective.  It  was  a  sugar-coated 
pill,  but  he  took  it  with  evident  relish  from  the  fair 
one.  I  venture  to  affirm  that  if  his  father  or  even 
his  mother  had  given  him  that  lecture  it  would  not 
have  been  received  with  half  that  grace." 

Oh  the  power  of  a  noble  woman  with  a  noble 
conscience!  Young  women  of  America,  by  true- 
ness  to  your  womanhood,  keeping  your  personality 
holy  and  upright,  living  solely  with  the  chaste  and 
sweet,  permitting  in  your  presence  only  the  high- 
est and  the  best,  and  indorsing  only  the  upright 
and  the  noble,  you  can  by  your  love  and  your  con- 
science and  your  indorsement  and  your  admiration 
capture  the  manhood  of  the  land,  and  develop  it, 
and  sanctify  it,  and  transfigure  it,  and  make  it  loyal 


310  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

and  hold  it  loyal  to  all  that  is  sublime  and  all  that 
is  God-like.  There  is  nothing  grander  on  God's 
earth  than  a  young  man  through  whose  being  the 
tide  of  a  noble  love  is  surging;  who  has  all  the 
susceptibility,  the  intensity,  the  tenderness,  the 
passion  of  a  fine  nature ;  who  is  just  beginning  to 
look  out  on  the  sweetness  and  beauty  of  life ;  who 
is  thrilled  by  all  that  is  good  and  great  in  the 
world  ;  whose  being  is  a  delicate  instrument  played 
upon  by  all  the  touches  of  the  immense  universe, 
and  which  gives  back  in  response  the  wondrous 
music  of  holy  ambitions  and  God-like  resolves.  A 
young  man  in  whose  manhood  reason  is  luminous, 
and  self-respect  is  positive,  and  ideal  is  lofty,  and 
honor  and  honesty  and  virtue  and  pure  love  are 
all  in  all — to  such  a  young  man  all  the  city  is  open  ; 
such  a  young  man  is  in  himself  superior  to  all  the 
forces  that  play  in  a  city.  He  himself  is  a  force 
above  all  earthly  force.  He  will  be  a  Joseph  in 
the  cities  of  Egypt ;  he  will  be  a  Daniel  in  the 
city  of  Babylon ;  and  by  and  by  he  will  be  a  lumi- 
nous son  of  God  in  the  city  of  the  skies. 


XIII. 

INSECTS  WITH  WINGS,  OR  BEAUTIFIED 
SINS. 


XIII. 

INSECTS  WITH  WINGS,  OR  BEAUTIFIED 
SINS. 

"Every  creeping  thing  that  flieth  is  unclean  unto  yon." — 
Deuteronomy  14: 19. 

The  text  is  a  precept  from  the  dietetic  and 
sanitary  code  under  which  God  put  His  covenant 
people.  The  purpose  of  this  code  was  one  with 
that  of  the  ritual  of  the  tabernacle,  viz.,  to  teach 
and  to  beget  holiness  unto  the  Lord.  It  was  not 
enough  that  the  Hebrew  be  taught  by  the  services 
of  the  tabernacle  that  "  without  holiness  no  man 
can  see  God."  He  did  not  live  in  the  tabernacle ; 
most  of  his  life  was  spent  outside  of  it.  Outside 
of  the  tabernacle  he  needed  also  to  be  taught  the 
very  same  lesson ;  so  God  wrote  it  on  the  creat- 
ures of  nature.  He  filled  earth  and  sea  and  air 
with  symbols,  all  of  which  proclaimed  to  initiated 
ears  the  necessity  of  holiness.  This  brought  God 
into  the  daily  life  of  the  Hebrew  and  made  Him 
the  center  of  that  life.  God  worshiped  in  the 
church — that  is  good,  but  that  is  not  enough.      God 


314  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

must  fill  the  whole  of  life.  God  must  be  in  our 
business ;  God  must  be  in  our  diet ;  God  must  be 
in  the  care  which  we  take  of  our  bodies.  Every- 
where, whatsoever  we  do  must  be  done  because  it 
is  right  in  His  sight ;  everywhere,  whatsoever  we 
refrain  from  doing  must  be  refrained  from  because 
it  is  wrong  in  His  sight.  As  the  New  Testament 
puts  it :  "  Whatsoever  therefore  ye  do,  whether  ye 
eat  or  drink,  do  all  to  the  glory  of  God." 

This  code  reveals  the  jealous  care  of  Jehovah 
over  His  people.  In  church  and  out  of  church,  at 
home  and  abroad,  asleep  and  awake,  by  day  and 
by  night,  He  regulates  their  habits  and  their  prac- 
tices. He  attends  to  their  food  and  their  clothing, 
and  He  prescribes  for  their  most  secret  life.  He 
overlooks  nothing  which  in  anywise  affects  the 
well-being  and  the  purity  of  those  in  whose  midst 
He  desires  to  dwell.  To  one  out  of  covenant  and 
out  of  sympathy  with  God  this  would  be  an  intol- 
erable burden.  To  have  God  about  his  path  by  day 
and  beside  his  bed  by  night  would  be  a  restraint 
beyond  endurance ;  but  to  a  lover  of  holiness  and 
to  an  admirer  of  God  nothing  could  be  more  de- 
lightful. 

The  object  of  this  code  is  to  promote  holiness. 
Now  one  way  of  helping  to  holiness  is  a  right  care 
of  the  body,  with  its  surroundings  and  its  diet. 
The  body  is  the  organ  of  the  spirit.  It  is  in  these 
bodies  of  ours  that  our  spiritual,  reasoning,  loving, 
hoping,  striving  self  dwells.      Our  bodily  faculties 


INSECTS    WITH   WINGS.  315 

are  the  instruments  of  our  spiritual  activities.  We 
must  take  care  of  these,  clothe  them  properly  and 
feed  them  properly.  There  is  no  plainer  truth 
than  this,  viz.,  the  way  we  treat  our  bodies  affects 
our  spiritual  activities.  Right  food  is  conducive  to 
right  soul-life.  Food  has  a  wider  influence  than  we 
think.  Many  a  man  is  less  devout,  less  useful,  less 
excellent  and  admirable  in  heart  and  life,  than  he 
might  be  because  of  the  unguarded  way  in  which 
he  eats  and  drinks.  We  may  be  neither  gluttons 
nor  drunkards,  yet  we  may  lower  our  character  and 
lessen  our  influence  by  our  ill-regulated  appetite. 
We  should  be  as  careful  in  feeding  our  bodies  as 
we  are  in  feeding  our  souls.  Food  in  both  cases 
tells  for  good  or  for  bad. 

But  it  is  not  my  purpose  at  this  time  to  expound 
the  dietetic  and  sanitary  code  which  God  gave  the 
Hebrews;  it  is  my  purpose  only  t©  notice  that  this 
code  had  another  characteristic  besides  the  dietetic 
and  sanitary.  In  the  education  of  the  Hebrews  it 
had  a  symbolic  characteristic.  "  It  is  only  when 
we  regard  these  ceremonial  distinctions  as  symbol- 
izing great  spiritual  truths  that  we  find  a  safe  and 
consistent  theory  to  guide  us  in  their  interpretation. 
They  were,  up  to  a  certain  point,  sanitary  and 
dietetic.  True,  but  they  were  also  intended  for 
the  instruction  of  the  soul  in  the  distinctions  be- 
tween moral  good  and  evil."  In  an  age  when 
book-teaching  was  unknown,  every  day's  absten- 
tion   from   certain   sorts   of  food   was   a   constant 


316  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

teaching  by  symbolic  object-lesson  of  the  necessity 
to  be  watchful  against  any  contact  with  or  partici- 
pation in  sin. 

The  text  is  a  pointed  illustration  of  the  symbolic 
character  of  the  code.  It  carries  in  it  a  moral  and 
religious  lesson.  It  strikes  at  popular  evils  and  at 
sins  in  high  places.  It  warns  against  evil  in  the 
forms  of  gilded  fascinations.  It  is  a  divine  pro- 
test against  admired  and  cultured  evil,  evil  which 
sparkles  and  shines.  It  points  out  the  kinship  of 
all  such  evil  to  evil  that  is  gross  and  vulgar.  It 
proclaims  the  moral  identity  of  all  sin — the  genteel 
and  the  shabby,  the  cultured  and  the  crude,  the 
attractive  and  the  repulsive,  the  scientific  and 
the  ignorant,  the  poetical  and  the  prosaic,  the 
refined  and  the  base.  All  sin  is  of  the  same 
principle ;  it  differs  only  in  manner  and  degree. 
We  need  to  be  told  this  over  and  over,  in  order 
that  we  may  be  put  on  our  guard  against  sin 
in  its  most  dangerous  and  effective  and  subtle 
forms.  This  is  what  the  text  tells  us.  It  raises 
the  alarm  against  creeping  things  with  wings — 
i.e.,  against  evils  adorned,  and  against  Satan  when 
he  shines. 

There  is  a  natural  disgust  in  every  one  to  the 
idea  of  eating,  or  even  handling,  a  creeping  worm 
or  caterpillar.  However  difficult  this  feeling  may 
be  to  analyze,  God  has  given  it  to  the  race  for 
some  purpose.  The  use  which  this  code  makes 
of  it  shows  its  purpose,  viz.  :   All  things  which  are 


INSECTS    WITH   WINGS.  317 

abhorrent  to  the  human  instinct — things  which  we 
call  repulsive  and  disgusting — are  so  many  indica- 
tions of  the  great  truth  that  we  are  to  make  clear- 
cut  and  sharp  distinctions  between  clean  and  un- 
clean, between  good  and  evil,  and  between  right 
and  wrong. 

This  natural  instinct  of  which  we  speak,  God 
saw  fit  to  incorporate  in  His  law  to  His  people. 
He  forbade  their  eating  these  repulsive,  crawling 
things.  Instinct  was  not  enough ;  there  must  be 
instinct  with  a  plus — instinct  plus  God's  law.  We 
know  how  the  natural  instinct  is  often  overcome 
by  willful  habits.  We  find  degraded  men  taking 
pleasure  in  articles  of  food  which  the  human  palate 
originally  and  instinctively  rejected.  Hence  the 
necessity  of  a  law  behind  instinct.  In  supporting 
instinct  by  a  law,  as  He  does  here,  God  teaches  us 
that  although  in  conscience  we  may  shrink  from 
gross  sins,  yet  gradually  we  may  so  blunt  con- 
science that  we  will  indulge  in  the  very  sins  we 
formerly  abhorred.  The  protests  of  natural  con- 
science are  not  sufficient  as  the  guide  of  life ;  we 
need  the  divine  law  as  our  guide.  No  man  ever 
began  his  career  as  a  thief,  or  a  murderer,  or  a 
debauchee.  He  despised  such  a  style  of  life,  as 
each  of  us  naturally  loathes  a  slimy  worm ;  but 
sin  so  wrought  in  him  that  he  began  to  shrink  less 
and  less  from  these  gross  sins,  and  at  last  he  be- 
came enamoured  of  them.  The  words  of  the  poet 
will  always  be  true  : 


318  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

"  Vice  is  a  monster  of  such  frightful  mien, 
That  to  be  hated  needs  but  to  be  seen ; 
But  seen  too  oft,  familiar  with  its  face, 
We  first  endure,  then  pity,  then  embrace." 

If  sin  in  its  grossest  form  be  thus  dangerous, 
what  must  be  the  unmeasured  power  of  sin  when 
it  disguises  itself  and  puts  on  the  robes  of  beauty 
and  the  forms  and  shapes  of  virtue  and  art  and 
science  and  progress — when  it  enthrones  itself  in 
fashion  and  in  the  palace  of  wealth,  and  when  it 
claims  the  authority  of  antiquity  ?  Sin  as  a  cater- 
pillar is  bad  enough ;  but  sin  as  a  butterfly  is  a 
thousand  times  worse.  It  is  sin  captivating  the 
eye  and  winning  the  admiration  of  the  whole  race. 
The  text  is  a  warning  to  the  men  and  women  who 
are  in  love  with  immoral  butterflies.  It  deals,  not 
with  gross  and  vulgar  sinners,  but  with  refined  and 
elegant  sinners  ;  with  those  who  lead  society  and 
give  tone  to  public  sentiment.  These  detest  the 
crawling  worm  most  heartily ;  their  refinement  is 
such  that  all  sins  in  gross  forms  repel  them ;  but 
alas !  they  are  repulsive,  not  because  they  are  sin, 
but  because  they  are  gross.  Their  abstinence  from 
sins  in  gross  forms  is  not  because  of  their  love  of 
God  or  their  desire  for  holiness,  but  simply  the 
result  of  a  fastidious  eclecticism.  It  is  the  result  of 
aesthetic  taste,  and  not  of  moral  taste.  The  text 
teaches  that  these  are  sinners  as  truly  as  the  most 
vulgar.  They  are  alienated  from  God.  They 
disregard  and  disobey  His  laws.     They  have  no 


INSECTS    WITH   WINGS.  319 

sympathy  with  His  cause.  They  ignore  His  holy 
Word.  They  set  their  hearts  on  earthly  things, 
and,  like  the  rich  man  of  the  parable,  make  earth 
their  heaven. 

Often  a  refined  and  educated  person  in  this  god- 
less condition  thinks  he  is  very  pure  because  he 
avoids  gross  sins.  He  says,  like  the  Pharisee, 
"  God,  I  thank  Thee  that  I  am  not  as  other  men 
are,  extortioners,  unjust,  adulterers,  or  even  as  this 
publican."  But  he  neither  knows  what  God  is  nor 
what  sin  is.  The  creeping  thing  which  his  refine- 
ment has  rejected  has  been  furnished  with  pretty 
wings,  and  now  he  loves  it.  The  nauseous  cater- 
pillar has  dressed  itself  up  as  a  beautiful  butterfly, 
and  in  this  form  he  sports  with  the  creature.  But 
what  does  God's  law  say  ?  This  :  "  Every  creep- 
ing thing  that  flieth  is  unclean  unto  you."  The 
wings  and  pretty  colors  have  not  altered  the  nature 
of  the  vermin.  The  same  uncleanness  is  there  as 
before. 

For  example,  to  give  my  thought  a  practical 
turn :  The  cunning  with  which  the  refined  mer- 
chant gets  off  his  damaged  goods  on  another,  or 
gets  a  false  price  by  sly  representation,  is  as  sinful 
in  God's  sight  as  the  plundering  of  a  jewelry  store 
by  a  common  burglar  and  sneak-thief.  In  one 
case  the  ugly  sin  has  the  pretty  wings  which  a 
false  system  of  trade  puts  on  it,  but  in  the  other 
case  its  ugliness  is  not  disguised.  The  falsehoods 
of  refined  society  which  form  the  staple  of  a  fash- 


320  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

ionable  woman's  conversation  are  just  as  disgusting 
to  pure  souls  as  the  broad  lies  for  which  this  fash- 
ionable woman  dismisses  her  servant  with  horror 
at  her  untruthful  character.  "  How  many  there 
are  who  would  shrink  with  dismay  from  over-sen- 
suality, and  yet  will  in  their  private  reading  gloat 
over  a  licentious  novel!  "  It  is  the  very  same 
crawling  thing,  only  now  it  has  pretty  wings. 

We  should  learn  that  sin  has  a  wonderful  power 
to  change  its  appearance.  We  shall  never  be  ready 
for  life  until  we  do  so  learn  ;  we  shall  never  feel  the 
importance  of  cultivating  the  discriminating  fac- 
ulty which  God  has  put  within  us ;  we  shall  never 
feel  the  necessity  of  going  to  God  for  our  definitions 
of  sin  and  for  a  description  of  the  true  inwardness 
of  sin.  We  must  be  told  what  sin  is  by  the  One 
who  has  omniscient  eyes  and  who  looks  evil  through 
and  through.  The  power  of  sin  to  change  and  to 
beautify  itself  is  like  that  of  the  caterpillar  to 
change  itself  into  a  butterfly  circling  and  soaring 
in  the  crystal  atmosphere  of  the  great  dome. 

For  the  purpose  of  impressing  upon  my  mind 
the  beauty  of  the  butterfly  I  read  a  volume  lately 
written  by  a  popular  entomologist  with  this  as  my 
sole  objective  point.  I  found  this  in  my  reading, 
that  the  beauty  of  this  winged  creature  bears  the 
scrutiny  of  the  most  powerful  microscope.  The 
more  the  searching  light  is  poured  upon  it,  the 
greater  its  beauty  shines  out.  It  far  transcends 
the  beauty  of  any  man-made  thing.      It  has  been 


INSECTS    WITH   WINGS.  32 1 

compared  to  the  rich  mosaic  built  by  human  skill ; 
but  the  comparison  soon  ceases  to  be  a  comparison 
and  speedily  becomes  a  contrast  of  the  most  strik- 
ing kind.  It  is  said  that  the  finest  modern  mosaic 
picture  contains  as  many  as  eight  hundred  and 
seventy  tesserae,  or  separate  pieces,  to  the  square 
inch  of  surface,  and  we  marvel  at  this ;  but  upon 
the  same  small  space  of  a  butterfly's  wing  the  en- 
tomologist has  counted  no  less  than  one  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  separate  glittering  scales,  each 
scale  carrying  in  it  a  gorgeous  color  beautiful  and 
distinct. 

Who  can  follow  nature's  pencil  and  chisel  and 
brush  as  these  work  upon  the  wings  of  a  butterfly  ? 
On  every  wing  there  is  a  picture  as  varied  as  the 
rainbow.  Every  wing  is  iridescent  with  different 
lights  that  shift  and  change.  Here  are  patches  of 
blue,  and  spots  of  purple,  and  lines  of  green  and 
aurelian  and  red.  Each  wing  is  checkered  and 
veined  like  an  exquisite  piece  of  Parian  marble. 
It  is  speckled  and  mottled,  flecked  and  tinted. 
Here  are  magnificent  comminglings  of  colors,  and 
these  are  rich  and  harmonious  in  tone.  Here  are 
fringes  of  snow-white,  and  waves  of  crimson,  and 
whole  chains  of  little  crescents.  Here  is  graceful 
elegance,  and  here  is  comely  shape.  Here  is 
masterful  tinting,  and  tipping,  and  gilding,  and 
flecking.  Here  are  all  the  glories  of  the  sunbeam 
broken  up  into  prismatic  beauties.  The  wing  of 
the  highest-typed  butterfly  is  the  work  of  God, 


322 


OUR  BEST  MOODS. 


"  to  whom  an  atom  is  an  ample  field."  The  poets 
call  the  butterfly  "  the  child  of  the  sun,"  "  a  flying 
and  flashing  gem,"  "a  flower  of  Paradise  gifted 
with  the  magic  power  of  flight."  They  tell  us 
that  its  wings  are  as  rich  as  the  evening  sky,  and 
that  they  expand  and  fold  with  a  silent  ecstasy. 

I  want  to  magnify  the  transmutation  of  the  cat- 
erpillar into  the  butterfly.  I  want  to  set  into  prom- 
inence the  great  contrast  between  the  crawler 
and  the  flyer,  the  creeping  worm  on  the  leaf  and 
the  creature  springing  from  the  chrysalis  to  sport 
in  the  sunshine.  I  want  every  attractive  feature 
of  this  "child  of  the  sun"  as  the  poet  calls  it,  to 
shine  out  and  thrill.  And  why?  That  I  may 
make  clear  the  point  of  the  text,  and  remind  you 
that  the  butterfly  is  only  a  caterpillar  beautified 
with  wings.  It  is  only  a  painted  worm,  decked 
in  a  velvet  suit  and  adorned  with  sparkling  gems. 
The  swallow  which  moves  on  larger  and  swifter 
wings  knows  this.  It  recognizes  the  worm  in  the 
midst  of  the  beauty.  When  it  is  out  in  search  of 
food  for  its  nestlings,  with  keen  eye  it  searches  for 
the  butterfly,  and  with  a  wicked  swoop  it  darts 
down  upon  it,  and  seizes  it,  and  flies  home,  crying 
to  its  brood,  "/  have  caught  a  worm."  Worms 
on  wings  are  as  good  to  it  for  food  as  worms  crawl- 
ing on  leaf  or  ground. 

Egg  and  caterpillar  and  butterfly,  the  three 
forms  of  this  creature's  existence,  are  one  and  of 
the  same  nature.     The  forms  are  different,  but  the 


INSECTS    WITH    WINGS.  323 

essences  are  the  same  and  identical.  I  want  to 
make  the  beauty  of  the  symbol  as  striking  as 
possible,  that  the  lesson  taught  by  it  may  be  as 
striking  as  possible.  I  care  for  the  butterfly,  but 
I  care  for  it  only  as  it  speaks  to  me  of  the  power 
of  Satan  to  transform  himself  into  an  angel  of  light, 
and  of  the  power  of  sin  to  make  itself  attractive, 
and  of  the  power  of  error  to  deck  itself  in  robes 
that  resemble  the  robes  of  truth,  so  that  even  the 
very  elect  of  God  are  in  danger  of  being  deceived. 

Let  us  see  how  sin  popularizes  and  beautifies 
itself.  This  will  help  us  to  keenness  in  the  discern- 
ment and  the  detection  of  sin.  The  great  desider- 
atum with  the  multitudes  is  just  this :  they  do  not 
recognize  sin  when  they  meet  it. 

1 .  Sin  beautifies  itself  by  assuming  and  wearing 
the  icings  of  wit. 

Wit  can  be  just  as  wicked  as  it  pleases,  and  yet 
be  popular.  To  be  witty  is  all  the  excuse  that 
evil  finds  necessary  for  its  being.  There  is  a  per- 
fect craze  for  a  joke,  and  there  is  no  form  in  which 
sin  and  the  devil  so  frequently  enter  the  best 
society. 

We  all  know  the  power  of  wit  in  making  an 
out-and-out  lie  acceptable  to  a  community,  and  in 
giving  it  currency.  Men  abhor  a  bungling,  stum- 
bling lie ;  but  let  the  same  lie  cleverly  incarnate 
itself  in  a  joke  and  fill  itself  with  laughing  humor, 
let  it  get  some  one  to  tell  it  admirably,  and  at  once 
it  becomes  popular.     Men  are  proud  to  repeat  it. 


324  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

They  circulate  it  for  the  pleasure  which  it  gives. 
It  is  an  illustration  of  the  fine  art  of  lying.  It  is 
dramatic.  They  are  so  taken  up  in  admiring  the 
exquisite  dexterity  of  the  form  in  which  it  is  told, 
that  they  never  think  of  hating  its  immoral  sub- 
stance. But  it  is  a  lie  all  the  same,  and  its  untruth, 
and  its  unchaste  thought,  soaring  and  flying  around 
society  upon  the  merry  ripples  of  laughter,  do 
their  fatal  work  with  a  greater  deadliness  than  the 
vulgar  lie  that  goes  about  condemned  in  its  native 
unadorned  deformity. 

Wit  for  the  most  part  is  the  instrument  which 
genius  uses  in  working  out  its  evil  nature.  Byron 
and  Burns  and  Shakespeare  clothe  their  impure 
and  wicked  thoughts  in  the  language  of  wit.  In 
the  garments  of  wit  their  bad  thoughts  sparkle  for 
very  brightness.  To  such  an  extent  is  this  true, 
that  we  have  to  argue  for  expurgated  editions 
of  Byron  and  Burns  and  Shakespeare  and  Goethe. 
I  was  astonished  to  come  across  this  sentiment  in 
a  recent  book  of  one  of  our  best  writers,  viz.,  that 
the  old  classics,  the  Iliad,  Odyssey,  vEneid,  the 
dramas  of  /Eschylus,  Euripides,  and  Sophocles,  the 
fables  of  ^Esop,  the  Lives  of  Plutarch,  and  the  his- 
tories of  Herodotus  and  Thucydides  and  Xenophon 
and  Livy,  are  more  wholesome  companions  for  our 
youth  than  the  unexpurgated  editions  of  Pope  or 
Dryden  or  Byron  or  Shakespeare  or  Goethe.  But 
how  come  the  questionable  paragraphs  and  verses 


INSECTS    WITH   WINGS.  325 

and  lines  into  these  modern  classics  of  ours  ?  They 
come  in  the  garb  of  wit,  and  in  this  form  they  re- 
ceive an  audience  because  they  glow  and  please 
and  fascinate.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  Christian  to 
clip  the  wings  of  wit  when  genius  uses  them  as  an 
adornment  for  the  immoral  caterpillar.  It  is  the 
duty  of  Christians  to  buy  only  and  read  only  ex- 
purgated editions. 

2.  Sin  beautifies  itself  by  assuming  and  wearing 
the  wings  of  fashion. 

Whatever  fashion  prescribes  is  law.  Whatever 
is  in  fashion  needs  no  defense  or  argument.  For 
example,  fashion  prescribes  dress,  and  sometimes 
the  boldness  of  the  attire  which  it  prescribes  is 
administrative  of  evil,  but  the  dress  obtains.  Un- 
fashionable people  may  find  fault,  but  fashionable 
people,  never.  They  give  no  thought  to  the 
morals  of  a  dress.  It  has  come  from  a  fashionable 
establishment  and  a  fashionable  price  has  been 
paid  for  it,  and  there  is  no  ground  for  any  exercise 
of  thought  or  of  conscience.  I  beg  the  pardon  of 
fashion,  but  there  is  ground  for  both  thought  and 
conscience ;  and  there  is  a  personal  responsibility 
to  be  met  here.  The  fashionable  establishment 
sins  every  time  it  sends  out  an  immoral  costume, 
that  is  true ;  but  more  than  that,  the  woman  of 
society  every  time  she  dons  the  costume  condones 
and  indorses  and  beautifies  the  sin  of  the  establish- 
ment, and  gives  it  permanency  and  life  and  cor- 


326  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

rupting  power.  There  is  no  carnal  power  in  all 
the  world  so  mighty  as  a  beautiful  woman  of  fash- 
ion arrayed  in  a  carnal  dress. 

For  example,  fashion  prescribes  the  mode  in 
which  we  shall  live ;  it  determines  the  rate  of  our 
expenses.  In  our  day  it  has  put  the  stamp  of  its 
approbation  upon  extravagance  of  living;  and  we 
Christian  people  fall  into  the  line  of  the  common 
life.  There  is  a  fascination  in  extravagance.  An 
abundance  which  abounds  and  superabounds  de- 
lights and  attracts.  But  is  it  right  ?  Is  it  right  to 
pile  up  twenty  dinners  one  upon  another  and  call 
that  a  single  meal?  There  is  a  point  of  morals 
here.  This  abundance  and  superabundance  ener- 
vates the  whole  man.  It  pampers  self  and  begets 
selfishness — a  refined  selfishness,  yes ;  but  selfish- 
ness nevertheless.  Even  a  refined  selfishness  nar- 
rows a  man  and  begets  in  him  a  shallow  conception 
of  life.  There  are  moral  consequences  involved  in 
an  extravagant  life.  It  cannot  be  kept  up  with- 
out money,  and  where  money  is  needed  there  is 
always  a  temptation  to  dishonesty  and  crooked 
methods.  It  engenders  worldliness,  and  is  world- 
liness  itself.  Now  living  for  this  world,  and  noth- 
ing more,  draws  away  all  the  sap  from  the  spiritual 
roots  of  a  man's  being.  There  is  a  sacrilegious 
wrong  when  the  sap  of  so  much  social  benefit  is 
concentrated  in  the  flowering  of  a  selfish  luxury. 
If  there  be  gross  vice  in  the  lower  classes  because 
of  the  energy  of  passion,  there  is  among  the  upper 


INSECTS    WITH   WINGS.  327 

classes  an  accomplished  epicurism,  and  a  fastidious 
voluptuousness,  and  a  strain  of  vanity  which  rots 
as  it  shines!  I  admit  that  where  a  man  has 
means  there  is  a  place  for  refinement,  and  for  a 
mansion,  and  for  a  banquet,  and  for  elegant  apart- 
ments, and  for  parlors  that  shall  be  studios  of 
aesthetic  beauty,  and  that  shall  breathe  the  inspira- 
tion of  sculpture  and  painting.  I  admit  that  there 
is  a  lawful  place  for  these ;  but  I  want  to  say  that 
in  this  day  of  sharp  and  painful  contrasts  in  human 
society,  when  ignorance  stands  face  to  face  with 
scholarship,  when  the  overfed  look  into  the  pinched 
and  despairing  faces  of  the  underfed,  when  the 
occupants  of  mansions  walk  the  same  streets  with 
the  occupants  of  disease-breeding  tenements,  there 
is  a  divine  limit  to  these.  I  am  not  going  to  place 
the  limit,  I  am  only  going  to  say  that  any  right- 
minded,  generous  humanitarian,  any  Christian  gov- 
erning himself  by  the  love  and  example  of  Christ, 
can  find  that  limit  when  he  wishes  to  find  it.  I 
wish  to  say  this  also,  that  there  is  a  special  dan- 
ger besetting  the  heart  shut  in  by  gilding  and 
velvet  and  banquet:  there  is  danger  lest  it  shall 
not  feel  the  electricity  of  the  common  humanity ; 
there  is  danger  lest  it  shall  not  hear  the  woes  of 
life  or  see  the  ghastliness  of  evil ;  there  is  danger 
lest  it  be  separated  in  thought  and  sympathy  from 
the  great  multitudes,  and  be  too  far  away  from  the 
jar  of  crime  and  the  cry  of  complaint.  No  Chris- 
tian should  let  the  extravagance  of  fashion  so  sep- 


328  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

arate  him  from  his  fellow-men,  whom  God  has 
commissioned  him  to  help,  that  he  cannot  know 
their  wants  or  sympathize  with  their  needs. 

3.  Sin  beautifies  itself  by  putting  on  the  wings 
of  art. 

When  sin  would  .become  tolerable,  it  comes  to 
art  and  asks  it  to  embellish  it.  When  art  has 
given  it  graceful  forms  and  the  witchery  of  color, 
it  knows  that  it  will  be  sought  and  admired.  It 
knows  that  its  suggestive  carnality  can  find  ingress 
into  the  soul  through  a  picture  and  a  statue  when 
it  can  find  ingress  and  opportunity  for  work  in  no 
other  way.  The  realism  of  art  has  introduced 
more  animalism  into  humanity  than  any  other 
instrumentality.  It  has  opened  an  avenue  into 
the  deepest  depths  of  the  soul  for  all  manner  of 
foul  thoughts.  Sin  in  the  beauties  of  art  is  evil 
dressed  in  such  a  way  that  men  cannot  hate  it.  It 
is  the  harlotry  of  wickedness.  No  propagator  of  sin 
should  call  out  more  our  honest  red-hot  scorn  than 
the  corrupt  artist,  or  the  corrupt  poet,  or  the  cor- 
rupt musician,  who  sells  his  skill  and  genius  for  the 
purpose  of  making  evil  thought  enchanting.  When 
an  old  heathen  like  Horace  sings  of  love  in  such 
a  way  as  to  corrupt  the  very  notion  of  love,  we 
may  find  some  argument  of  compassion  in  the  fact 
that  he  was  a  heathen ;  but  when  a  Heinrich 
Heine,  with  extraordinary  wit  and  with  most  ex- 
traordinary wickedness,  defiles  with  his  fine  touches 
the  very  interior  nerve  and  nature  of  love,  one  can- 


INSECTS   WITH   WINGS.  329 

not  heat  the  indignation  which  one  expresses  too 
hot.  A  white  heat  is  too  mild  a  heat  to  do  justice 
to  deserved  scorn. 

Art  is  the  popular  thing  of  the  age.  The  world 
has  more  artists  and  more  art  schools  now  than  it 
ever  had  before.  It  is  fashionable  to  be  posted  in 
art.  Every  one  who  knows  anything  must  be  a 
critic  in  art  and  a  lover  of  art.  Sin  recognizes 
this,  and  seeks  through  art  an  open  door  into 
thousands  of  homes  and  lives.  In  the  name  of 
art  people  go  to  the  playhouse  to  witness  the  per- 
formances of  actors  of  questionable  character.  In 
the  name  of  art  they  fill  their  parlors  with  bathing 
nymphs  and  demi-monde  scenes,  which  give  rise 
to  thoughts  that  are  not  Christian.  I  ask  the  ques- 
tion :  Is  it  right  for  those  who  are  washed  in  the 
blood  of  Christ,  and  who  seek  the  sanctifying  in- 
fluences of  the  Holy  Spirit,  to  enter  willfully  into 
a  social  life  where  books  and  pictures  and  statuary 
and  entertainments  are  unblushingly  promotive  of 
the  growth  of  the  lower  man?  Is  it  right  to  be- 
come accustomed  to  things  which  cause  us  to  lose 
our  Christian  delicacy  and  reserve?  Be  assured 
that  all  thinking  that  is  bad  or  impure  dulls,  the 
edge  of  moral  delicacy,  and  be  assured  also  that 
the  results  are  one  and  the  same  whether  the  soiled 
thought  be  suggested  by  the  daub  in  the  house  of 
death,  or  by  the  masterpiece  in  the  salon.  In  art, 
let  us  choose  idealism  and  not  realism.  Let  us  see 
to  it  that  the  statuettes  on  our  brackets,  and  the 


330  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

statues  on  our  pedestals,  and  the  books  of  engrav- 
ings on  our  tables,  and  the  pictures  on  our  walls 
shall  be  as  pure  in  God's  sight  and  as  promotive  of 
holiness  as  the  prayers  which  we  offer  at  our  fam- 
ily altars.  I  argue  for  chaste  sounds,  and  chaste 
colors,  and  chaste  forms.  These,  to  my  mind,  are 
the  essentials  of  true  art,  as  true  art  is  approved 
by  the  laws  of  our  holy  God. 

4  .  Sin  beautifies  itself  by  putting  on  the  wings 
of  pleasing  and  attractive  names. 

It  decks  itself  in  the  beauties  of  euphemisms.  It 
studiously  robes  itself  in  the  robes  of  a  poetic  and 
a  moral  nomenclature.  This  has  always  been  the 
method  of  sin,  and  it  seems  to  be  necessary  to  its 
success.  It  calls  good  evil  and  evil  good,  and  in 
this  way  sears  the  conscience.  It  blackens  the 
white  and  whitens  the  black.  It  stigmatizes 
"conscientiousness"  as  "morbidness,"  and  it  calls 
"dissipation"  "good-fellowship."  It  thus  blurs 
the  distinction  between  right  and  wrong,  and 
wrong  and  right.  It  thus  crucifies  a  good  thing 
by  a  bad  name,  and  resurrects  and  dignifies  a  bad 
thing  by  a  good  name.  It  calls  "  silence  with  re- 
gard to  evil  "  shrewdness,"  "  tact."  To  speak 
would  offend.  It  should  call  such  "  silence"  "  trea- 
son "  and  "cowardice." 

Perhaps  in  no  sphere  in  life  are  the  wings  of 
a  false  nomenclature  so  widely  spread  as  in  the 
mercantile  sphere.  All  manner  of  dishonesty  is 
beautified  and  glossed  over  by  euphemisms.      It 


INSECTS    WITH   WINGS.  331 

is  very  often  the  case  in  business  that  the  intellect 
of  a  man  is  keener  than  his  moral  sense.  "  It  is 
hard  for  the  man  with  the  dollar-and-cent  concep- 
tion of  the  universe  to  read  the  Decalogue  straight 
through  the  double  lens  of  a  twelve-per-cent.  inter- 
est or  of  a  fifty-per-cent.  profit.  In  business  many 
a  man  sets  up  a  standard  that  slants  considerably 
from  the  divine  perpendicular."  And  yet  things 
sound  well  as  he  describes  them  in  mercantile 
terms.  He  lets  himself  down  softly.  "  He  refers 
to  forgery  as  '  skilled  penmanship.'  He  calls  in- 
genious prevarication  by  the  euphemistic  title  '  a 
white  lie.'  A  white  lie!  That  only  reveals  that 
the  man  who  made  it  is  a  practiced  and  cultivated 
liar — a  liar  by  trade.  Reckless  and  dishonest 
speculation  with  other  people's  money  he  calls 
'  enterprise.'  What  right  has  any  man  to  put 
another's  money  into  fearful  risk?  Your  venture 
may  accidentally  turn  out  well,  and  you  may  be 
able  to  pay  him  what  you  owe  him,  still  it  is  dis- 
honesty. To  be  honest  through  a  fortunate  acci- 
dent is  not  to  be  honest  at  all."  Business  men, 
be  assured  it  is  a  great  sin  to  disregard,  or  even 
to  underrate  in  the  least  degree,  the  eternal  dis- 
tinction between  right  and  wrong ;  it  is  a  great  sin 
to  view  things  in  their  wrong  aspects  and  call  things 
by  their  wrong  names.  "  To  give  vice  the  names 
of  virtue  is  a  betrayal  of  God  and  a  playing  into 
the  hands  of  the  devil.  Sin  is  throned  and  crowned 
and  titled  by  leniency  and  circumlocution  and  dig- 


332  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

nified  names."  I  beseech  you,  be  not  deceived. 
Abhor  sin.  Believe  in  virtue,  believe  in  truth,  be- 
lieve in  honesty,  believe  in  honor,  believe  in  God, 
believe  in  God's  law,  and  believe  in  God's  provi- 
dence. 

My  fellow-men,  I  ask  you  to  consider  the  value 
of  using  right  and  natural  and  simple  names  in 
dealing  with  sin.     Notice  this  fact : 

The  real  and  true  name  of  sin-  is  the  best  expose 
of  sin. 

There  is  much  in  a  name.  A  true  name  of  sin 
is  a  picture  of  sin — a  striking  and  vivid  image  of 
sin.  It  strips  off  its  seductiveness  and  sets  in  the 
light  its  grossness.  It  robs  it  of  half  of  its  power 
by  making  it  accurately  known.     Notice  this  fact : 

The  real  and  true  name  of  sin  is  the  best  pro- 
tector and  the  best  educator  of  our  moral  sense. 

"  Conversation  is  educational,  and  the  words 
which  we  use  to  communicate  ideas  fix  these  ideas 
firmly  in  the  mind.  By  right  words  we  want  to 
fix  right  ideas  in  our  souls.  A  fit  name  not  only 
keeps  distinct  things  that  differ,  but  it  keeps  the 
snarl  out  of  our  ideas  of  things.  A  certain  amount 
of  distinct  thinking  is  necessary  for  the  maintenance 
of  a  conscience  that  shall  work  properly  and  speak 
definitively.  We  can  play  with  words,  but  words 
will  take  their  turn  and  play  with  us.  An  ambig- 
uous word  given  to  a  bad  thing  saps  from  the  bad 
thing  its  essential  ugliness.  For  the  education  of 
the  conscience  '  lie  '  is  better  than  '  prevaricate  ' ; 


INSECTS    WITH   WINGS.  333 

'  adultery  '  is  better  than  '  conjugal  infidelity  ' ;  and 
the  word  '  theft '  is  better  than  '  defalcation  ' ;  it 
cuts  closer  to  the  marrow.  The  safest  and  best 
words  are  those  which  bring  us  most  directly  to 
the  facts.  If  we  want  to  keep  good  and  evil  apart 
from  each  other  in  our  acts,  we  must  keep  them 
distinct  in  our  thoughts.  Now  distinct  thinking 
waits  upon  precise  and  honest  wording."  Notice 
this  fact : 

The  real  and  true  name  of  sin  is  the  best  organ  for 
the  expression  of  a  righteous  indignation  against  sin. 

The  expression  of  indignation  against  sin  is  the 
crying  demand  of  our  age.  There  is  altogether 
too  much  smiling  upon  sin  and  apologizing  for  sin. 
Soft  names  are  too  plentiful.  We  see  this  in  the 
way  men  deal  with  "  the  devil,"  the  impersonation 
of  all  evil.  Hosts  of  people  stammer  at  his  name. 
To  say  "  the  devil  "  sounds  harsh  and  flat  and  vul- 
gar to  some.  The  name  has  in  it  something  that 
makes  them  shrink.  So  they  introduce  substitutes. 
They  weave  wit  and  good-fellowship  into  the  ap- 
pellatives which  they  use.  They  speak  of  him  as 
"  His  Satanic  Majesty,"  or  they  name  him  famil- 
iarly "The  Old  Boy,"  or  they  call  him  "The  D," 
using  the  first  letter  of  his  name.  This  is  a  straw, 
but  it  shows  the  direction  of  the  popular  wind.  It 
is  a  coquetting  with  the  devil.  It  is  a  putting  out 
of  the  fire  of  indignation  which  should  always  burn 
in  the  soul  against  the  Evil  One  who  has  cursed 
and  is  still  cursing  our  world  and  our  race. 


334  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

"  The  age  of  clear,  free,  grand  speech  is  dead. 
We  have  come  to  the  age  of  euphemisms.  Sen- 
tences are  uttered  in  such  a  way  that  nobody  can 
quote  them.  They  are  so  rounded  and  oiled  that 
it  is  impossible  to  retain  them  in  one's  grip.  The 
old  grit  has  been  lost ;  the  old  free  piercing  speech 
is  gone,  and  we  have  fallen  upon  silken  times. 
The  popular  preacher  is  the  gentle,  quiet,  soothing, 
contemplative,  almost  silent  preacher.  His  sermon 
is  like  a  melodious  Psalm,  such  as  Peace  would  sing 
in  a  garden  of  flowers.  It  trembles  and  quivers 
with  the  softest  notes.  We  hate  the  reformer, 
whose  lips  are  iron-bound,  and  whose  voice  is  like 
the  shock  of  the  tempest."  But  this  is  our  mis- 
take, for  we  are  still  living  in  a  world  of  destruc- 
tive sin.  God  calls  us  this  day  back  to  His  Book 
that  we  may  learn  how  to  speak  of  evil,  and  that 
we  may  school  ourselves  in  the  right  nomenclature 
of  sin.  When  His  Church  and  His  people  speak 
of  evil  He  wants  them  so  to  speak  that  men  will 
feel  He  is  speaking  through  them  ;  He  wants  them 
to  use  words  which  are  vivid  pictures  of  sin,  and 
which  carry  in  them  a  fiery  indignation  of  soul 
that  has  the  power  to  scathe  and  burn  to  ashes  all 
injustice  and  all  wickedness.  He  wants  them  to 
use  language  which  will  call  out  antipathy  to  sin 
rather  than  pity  for  sin  or  condolence  with  the  sin- 
ner. There  is  one  supreme  thing  which  God  seeks 
to  set  forth  with  the  clearness  of  the  noonday  be- 


INSECTS    WITH   WINGS.  335 

fore  the  immortal  soul,  and  that  is :  all  sin  is  un- 
clean ;  all  sin  is  abhorrent ;  all  sin  is  deadly. 

In  closing  allow  me  to  say  that  the  chief  thing 
which  we  all  need  to  reach  is  God's  idea  of  sin. 
Have  we  God's  idea  of  sin?  Do  we  know  its 
nature,  do  we  know  its  awful  consequences?  We 
must  know  these  things  if  we  are  ever  to  take  the 
right  attitude  toward  sin.  How  can  we  know 
these  ?  There  is  only  one  way,  but  that  one  way 
is  all-sufficient.  It  is  this :  full  and  complete  fel- 
lowship with  Jesus  Christ,  the  pure  and  holy  Son 
of  God.  We  must  let  Christ  so  into  our  lives  that 
we  shall  be  able  to  look  at  all  things  through  His 
eyes.  He  who  looks  at  sin  through  Christ's  eyes 
knows  what  sin  is.  Association  with  Him  quick- 
ens one's  sensitiveness  to  its  presence.  His  tuition 
brings  into  prominence  the  spirituality  of  sin  and 
teaches  that  it  is  not  necessarily  an  overt  act  or  a 
visible  movement ;  it  is  often  a  thought,  a  play  of 
imagination,  a  volition.  In  the  harsh  and  unjust 
thought  is  the  principle  of  manslaughter.  His  criti- 
cisms upon  the  popularities  and  conventionalities 
of  the  best  society  train  one  to  look  under  the 
masks  of  beauty  and  etiquette  and  skill  of  art  and 
glamour  of  fashion,  and  see  the  real  and  the  con- 
trolling power,  viz.,  the  spirit  of  sin. 

There  are  searching  revelations  of  sin  in  Christ's 
life  and  in  Christ's  words ;  but  the  highest  revela- 
tion of  all  is  in  Christ's  cross.      In  the  cross  sin  has 


336  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

grown  to  its  harvest ;  it  has  come  to  its  full  fruit- 
age. What  a  brood  of  black  things  are  gathered 
about  the  cross !  Sin  made  the  cross  a  necessity. 
Sin  erected  the  cross.  Sin  drove  the  cruel  cruci- 
ficial  nails.  Sin  crushed  the  crown  of  thorns  into 
the  holy  temples  of  the  Christ.  Sin  poised  and 
thrust  the  murderous  spear.  Sin  extorted  the 
orphan  cry.  In  the  cross  you  see  the  tremendous 
daring  of  sin :  it  is  not  afraid  to  strike  at  the  very 
heart  of  God.  Now  remember,  all  sin  is  one — the 
same  in  nature  and  in  essence.  It  differs  only 
in  degree  and  manner  of  manifestation.  Calvary 
strips  the  human  world  of  all  its  masks.  It  un- 
covers it  and  reveals  the  depth  of  its  wickedness. 
It  throws  sunlight  on  that  black  and  foaming  ocean 
of  sin  on  which  souls  are  borne  to  ruin.  Philoso- 
phers, I  cannot  accept  of  your  apologies  for  sin. 
Poets,  I  cannot  appreciate  the  gorgeous  drapery 
you  throw  over  sin.  Artists,  I  deplore  the  varnish 
and  the  tinsel  with  which,  in  this  age  of  civiliza- 
tion, you  attempt  to  embellish  sin. 

In  the  light  of  Calvary  I  see  sin  in  all  its  forms 
to  be  bitter,  uncompromising  antagonism  to  God.  It 
is  the  one  thing  of  all  things  from  which  the  im- 
mortal soul  must  be  freed  if  it  is  ever  to  become 
God-like,  and  if  it  is  ever  to  reach  its  possible  goal, 
and  if  it  is  ever  to  unfold  its  inherent  beauties 
throughout  the  ages  of  a  happy  eternity. 


XIV. 
PRAYER  FOR  INSTRUCTION   IN  ARITHMETIC. 


XIV. 

PRAYER  FOR   INSTRUCTION    IN 
ARITHMETIC. 

"So  teach  us  to  number  our  days,  that  we  may  apply  our  hearts 
unto  wisdom." — Psalm  90 :  12. 

Looked  at  in  one  aspect,  human  life  is  a  math- 
ematical problem.  It  is  a  sum  in  arithmetic.  It 
is  an  example  in  simple  addition.  This  being  so, 
there  is  nothing  more  important  than  arithmetic. 
Arithmetic  has  a  large  place  and  play  in  the  world. 
Because  of  its  place  and  play  it  is  our  duty  to 
master  it.  The  study  of  arithmetic  is  not  an  idle 
thing.  When  we  set  our  children  at  the  task  of 
learning  figures,  we  are  doing  a  great  work  for 
them.  When  we  instruct  them  in  simple  enumer- 
ation, when  we  teach  them  to  count  1,  2,  3,  4,  5, 
6,  7,  8,  9,  10;  when  we  teach  them  the  table  of 
decimals,  10,  20,  30,  40,  50,  60,  70,  80,  90,  100 — we 
are  giving  them  the  means  by  which  they  can  es- 
timate the  duration  of  their  earthly  existence,  upon 
which  hang  the  momentous  interests  of  eternity. 

The  table  of  numerals  and  decimals  is  a  wonder- 
ful thing.  It  is  like  the  alphabet.  Take  the  Greek 
alphabet  with  its  twenty-four  letters,  or  symbols. 
339 


340  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

Can  you  estimate  its  value?  Can  you  tell  what 
it  has  done  for  the  world  ?  It  has  given  visibility 
to  the  invisible  realm  of  thought.  It  has  brought 
human  language  under  control.  It  has  given  the 
creations  of  Homer  an  earthly  immortality.  It 
has  kept  the  orations  of  Demosthenes  alive.  It 
has  given  Paul  a  perpetual  personality  and  power. 
It  has  introduced  Jesus  Christ  Himself  to  the  gen- 
erations of  men,  and  has  caused  His  heavenly  rev- 
elations to  ring  with  power  and  thrill  with  joy 
down  the  ages.  The  alphabet !  There  is  no 
greater  blessing  possessed  by  mankind  than  the 
simple  alphabet.  It  has  linked  age  with  age,  and 
era  with  era,  and  soul  of  man  with  soul  of  man. 
It  is  the  storehouse  of  human  thought.  It  is  the 
golden  casket  which  carries  in  it  the  precious  gem 
of  divine  speech.  It  is  the  chariot  of  God  in  which 
eternal  truth  and  infinite  love  ride. 

Like  the  alphabet  is  the  table  of  numerals  and 
decimals.  It  carries  in  it  all  that  is  wonderful  in 
mechanics  and  all  that  is  great  and  serviceable  in 
the  sciences.  By  means  of  it  men  lay  hold  of  the 
powers  of  nature,  and  tabulate  them  and  handle 
them,  and  harness  them  to  human  enterprises. 
By  it  men  deal  with  the  wonderful  works  of  God, 
and  analyze  them  and  master  them.  What  the 
alphabet  is  in  the  world  of  mind,  the  table  of  nu- 
merals and  decimals  is  in  the  world  of  matter. 

Arithmetic  is  an  essential  to  man.  Without  it 
he  can  do  nothing,  but  with  it  he  can  do  many 


INSTRUCTION  IN  ARITHMETIC.  34 1 

wonderful  things.  Take,  for  example,  the  con- 
struction of  the  American  watch,  which  you  carry 
in  your  pocket.  It  is  a  rival  of  the  moving  worlds 
in  the  solar  system.  But  that  wonderful  piece 
of  mechanism  constructed  by  man  is  constructed 
wholly  upon  the  principles  of  arithmetic.  The 
cogs  of  the  wheels  are  all  counted,  and  they  are 
increased  or  decreased  proportionately  as  they  are 
intended  to  mark  hours  or  seconds.  The  watch  is 
constructed  and  adjusted  according  to  the  laws  of 
horology.  This  story  is  told  of  a  certain  American 
watch  which  passed  through  the  hands  of  nearly 
all  the  jewelers  of  the  city.  I  tell  it  in  order  to 
exalt  the  value  of  arithmetic.  "  The  watch  failed 
to  keep  accurate  time.  It  was  taken  from  one 
jeweler  to  another  that  it  might  be  made  to  keep 
step  with  the  motions  of  the  earth  and  sun  and 
stars.  All  who  examined  it  pronounced  it  per- 
fect; but  nevertheless  none  of  them  could  make 
it  keep  time.  One  perplexed  watchmaker,  more 
thorough  by  nature  than  his  fellows,  determined 
to  find  the  flaw.  For  this  end  he  counted  the 
cogs  in  every  wheel  in  the  watch,  and  at  last  he 
found  that  there  was  one  wheel  which  lacked  one 
cog  of  the  proper  number.  That  solved  the  mys- 
tery. All  the  watchmakers  in  the  universe  could 
not  make  a  watch  keep  step  with  the  stars  when 
one  cog  was  missing  from  one  of  its  wheels."  Man 
in  order  to  construct  a  perfect  work  must  be  an 
arithmetician. 


342  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

To  see  the  value  and  importance  of  arithmetic 
we  must  look  into  the  works  of  God.  God  works 
mathematically.  God  is  the  great  and  infinite 
mathematician.  Hence  this  inspired  prayer  offered 
to  God:  "Lord,  teach  us  to  number  our  days." 
Hence  the  Bible  sets  God  forth  as  the  teacher  of 
mathematics.  Theologians  tell  us  that  arithmetic 
is  the  handmaid  of  religion,  and  is  a  most  telling 
witness  of  the  existence  of  God  as  He  reveals 
Himself  in  creation.  They  tell  us  that  we  cannot 
reach  a  true  theology  or  a  correct  knowledge  of 
God  without  a  knowledge  of  arithmetic. 

I  have  in  my  library  two  small  pamphlets,  writ- 
ten by  a  Boston  friend,  right  in  line  with  this 
thought.  They  should  be  owned  by  every  intel- 
ligent Christian.  These  pamphlets  are  entitled 
"Atheism  and  Arithmetic  "  and  "  Number  in  Na- 
ture." Their  design,  you  can  surmise  from  their 
titles,  is  to  show  that  there  is  number  in  nature 
and  accurate  arithmetic  in  the  works  of  creation ; 
therefore  atheism,  or  the  denial  of  the  existence 
and  overrule  of  God  in  the  universe,  is  a  gross 
absurdity.  God  proves  His  existence  and  His 
wisdom  by  the  way  He  counts. 

I  ask  you  to  walk  with  me  among  the  works  of 
Nature  for  the  sole  purpose  of  noting  the  play  of 
arithmetic  in  the  construction  of  God's  works. 
And  just  here  in  this  part  of  the  sermon  I  mean 
to  think  leisurely  and  take  my  time.  I  mean  at 
this  point  to  add  incident  to  incident.      I  mean  to 


INSTRUCTION  IN  ARITHMETIC.  343 

condense  a  page  or  two  of  the  pamphlets  to  which 
I  have  referred. 

There  is  arithmetic  in  the  cornfield.  Arithmetic 
is  here,  just  as  truly  as  it  is  in  the  knitting  factory, 
where  every  stitch  is  counted  and  every  color  ac- 
curately alternated.  The  kernels  of  corn  are  not 
thrown  around  the  central  shaft  or  cob  indiscrim- 
inately or  by  chance.  They  are  built  around  the 
central  shaft  or  cob  with  all  the  skill  of  a  master 
mechanism.  There  is  a  careful  count  and  a  care- 
ful arrangement  of  the  myriads  of  rows.  Chance 
might  mix  up  and  shake  and  shuffle  buttons  to  all 
eternity  without  arranging  two  orderly  rows  of 
buttons  on  a  boy's  jacket ;  even  so,  chance  might 
toss  and  tumble  all  the  vegetable  creation  in  the 
universe  for  ages  without  producing  one  ear  of 
Indian  corn  with  its  kernels  arranged  in  regular 
rows.  But  here  in  the  cornfield  are  thousands  of 
ears  of  corn  with  the  kernels  all  arranged  by  some 
one  who  has  an  eye  for  symmetry  and  order,  and 
who  can  reason  and  count. 

But  what  is  there  peculiar  in  the  field  of  Indian 
corn?  What  one  thing  with  regard  to  number  do 
we  find  wrapped  up  in  the  envelope  of  the  care- 
fully folded  husk  ?  This :  the  rows  of  kernels 
exist  in  even  numbers.  There  are  four  rows,  or 
eight  rows,  or  sixteen  rows,  or  twenty-four  rows; 
never  five  rows,  or  fifteen  rows,  or  twenty-one 
rows.  Never  an  odd  number.  It  is  said  that  a 
miller  who  spent  all  his  life  grinding  corn  looked 


344  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

for  twenty-seven  years  to  see  if  he  could  not  find 
one  ear  containing  an  uneven  number  of  rows  of 
kernels,  but  in  all  those  twenty-seven  years  of 
search  he  did  not  find  a  single  ear.  A  story  is 
told  of  a  slave  who,  on  being  promised  his  free- 
dom if  he  would  find  an  ear  of  corn  having  an 
odd  number  of  rows  of  kernels,  went  into  the 
cornfield  when  the  corn  was  earing,  and,  carefully 
opening  a  number  of  husks,  deftly  cut  out  a  row 
of  kernels  from  each,  and  then  closed  up  the  husks 
again.  The  corn  grew  and  ripened,  and  closed  up 
in  its  growth  the  vacant  spaces.  When  it  was 
gathered  the  slave  searched  for  and  found  one  of 
these  ears  with  an  odd  number  of  rows,  and  pre- 
sented it  and  claimed  his  freedom.  There  are  the 
vast  fields  of  corn,  and  this  accurate  count  goes 
on  year  after  year.  Why?  Because  there  is 
an  intelligent  Being  constantly  back  of  the  uni- 
verse. Because  there  is  a  God,  and  He  has  a  will 
which  He  executes.  Because  there  is  a  God,  and 
He  counts.  Because  there  is  a  God,  and  He  rules 
and  governs  the  secret  energies  of  the  vegetative 
life  in  accordance  with  mathematical  laws. 

Nothing  is  so  wonderful  as  the  arithmetic  in  the 
vegetable  world.  In  no  sphere  is  there  more 
counting  and  weighing  and  measuring.  Every 
vegetable  organism  is  built  up  by  a  most  subtle 
chemistry  of  nature  from  the  atoms  derived  from 
the  earth  and  the  air  and  the  water.  The  germ- 
builders  here  are  empowered  by  the  great  Creator 


INSTRUCTION  IN  ARITHMETIC.  345 

to  draw  from  surrounding  atoms  in  such  specific 
quantity  and  in  such  constant  proportion  as  will 
construct  each  particular  structure  in  exact  parts 
which  can  be  expressed  numerically.  No  chem- 
ist's prescriptions  are  made  up  with  a  thousandth 
part  of  the  accuracy  with  which  nature  works  here. 
God  is  an  arithmetician.  There  is  number  in  the 
department  of  crystallization.  God  always  counts 
when  He  makes  the  six-sided  and  the  eight-sided 
and  the  twelve-sided  crystal  gem.  Take,  for  ex- 
ample, a  snow-storm.  It  is  simply  one  magnificent 
exhibit  of  the  operation  of  the  laws  of  crystalliza- 
tion. If  we  narrow  our  study  to  a  single  snow- 
flake  we  will  find  that  in  it  is  the  arithmetic  of 
crystallization.  There  is  arithmetic  in  every  flake, 
for  every  snow-flake  is  accurately  and  geomet- 
rically constructed.  The  most  delicate  arithmetic 
and  geometry  reign  supreme  here.  Last  month  I 
devoted  two  full  weeks  to  the  study  of  the  snow- 
flake,  and  read  almost  everything  in  the  Boston 
libraries  centering  on  that  subject.  I  studied  it 
as  a  work  of  God ;  I  studied  it  as  I  would  study 
a  chapter  in  Genesis,  and  took  notes  for  future  use. 
I  found  one  book  by  a  Brooklyn  literary  woman 
containing  hundreds  of  plates  with  accurate  draw- 
ings of  snow-flakes  taken  from  reality  and  life. 
Each  drawing  gave  a  distinct  variety  of  snow- 
flake.  No  two  were  alike.  But  this  was  the  pe- 
culiarity of  all  and  of  each — the  number  six  was 
the  active  and  leading'  factor  in  their  construction. 


346  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

The  Great  Arithmetician  never  missed  count.  For 
example,  there  were  six  glittering  points  symmet- 
rically arranged  in  the  single  flake ;  or  there  were 
six  little  triangles  so  arranged  as  to  make  the  flake 
into  the  shape  of  a  six-pointed  star;  or  the  flake 
was  built  into  the  form  of  a  wheel  with  six  sides ; 
or  the  flake  was  a  little  forest  with  six  little  trees, 
each  little  tree  having  six  little  branches.  And 
thus  on  and  thus  on.  These  plates  were  all  ex- 
amined by  the  famous  Agassiz,  and  they  bear  his 
indorsement  for  correctness.  When  I  closed  the 
reading  of  that  book  I  said  to  myself :  "  Verily, 
each  snow-storm  is  a  gigantic  arithmetical  problem 
accurately  worked  out  on  God's  slate." 

God  is  an  arithmetician.  There  is  arithmetic 
in  the  plumage  of  the  bird.  There  is  a  minute 
numerical  accuracy  in  the  measurement  of  the 
spaces  occupied  by  the  feathers,  and  in  the  grada- 
tion of  the  tints  of  the  feathers,  and  in  the  adher- 
ence to  a  given  pattern  after  which  the  feathers 
are  woven.  Take  the  peacock's  feather.  In  it  you 
have  a  remarkable  example.  In  it  a  repeated  and 
resplendent  pattern  must  be  produced  by  the 
united  effect  of  the  combination  of  the  different 
and  distinct  tints  marked,  at  fixed  distances,  on 
each  separate  spray  of  each  feather ;  and  each 
point  of  each  spray  of  each  feather  must  be  so 
constituted  as  to  reflect  a  particular  ray  of  the 
sunbeam.  The  whole  structure  must  be  made  to 
grow  out  from  the  feather-roots  inserted  in  the 


INSTRUCTION  IN  ARITHMETIC.  347 

living  bird.  Each  spray  requires  a  different  devel- 
opment. Such  is  the  gigantic  task  of  construct- 
ing the  plumage  of  a  peacock.  But  it  is  under- 
taken and  successfully  executed.  My  fellow-men, 
there  are  a  million  chances  to  one  against  this 
structure  being  the  work  of  blind  force,  which  can 
neither  see  colors  nor  take  account  of  measured 
space,  nor  delight  in  the  glorious  result.  Cicero 
says  :  "  It  would  be  easier  to  believe  that  a  million 
Greek  letters  accidentally  fell  upon  the  ground  in 
the  form  of  Homer's  melodious  fables,  complete 
in  sense  and  complete  in  the  scansion  of  the  hex- 
ameters than  to  believe  that  nature  is  a  thing  of 
chance." 

God  is  an  arithmetician.  There  is  arithmetic  in 
the  skies.  God  counts  the  stars  and  gives  them 
all  their  names.  He  counts  them  and  places  them 
so  accurately  that  they  are  a  celestial  timepiece, 
with  jeweled  wheels,  measuring  not  only  seconds 
and  minutes  and  hours  and  days,  but  measuring 
years  and  decades  and  centuries  and  millenniums. 

God  is  an  arithmetician.  There  is  arithmetic  in 
the  construction  of  man.  The  heart  throbs  ac- 
cording to  arithmetic,  and  the  pulse  beats  accord- 
ing to  arithmetic.  Wisely  and  beautifully  did 
David  sing  three  thousand  years  ago  concerning 
the  construction  of  man.  Addressing  God  with 
reference  to  his  physical  frame,  he  says,  "  In  the 
book  of  patterns,  or  anatomical  drawings,  all  my 
members  were  written  and  delineated,  in  the  days 


348  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

when  not  one  of  them  was  fashioned."  Christ 
refers  to  the  arithmetic  which  pertains  to  our 
heads,  and  by  it  illustrates  God's  superintendence 
and  providential  care  relative  to  His  people.  When 
we  see  how  God  counts  and  counts  and  counts 
everywhere  in  nature,  we  can  believe  every  word 
uttered  by  Jesus  when  He  says,  "  Even  the  very 
hairs  of  your  head  are  all  numbered."  Number- 
ing the  hairs  of  our  head  is  marvelous  care-taking 
upon  the  part  of  our  Heavenly  Father,  but  it  is 
God-like,  and  it  has  a  universal  corroboration.  It 
is  God-like,  and  nothing  less  particular  and  minute 
could  satisfy  God. 

God  is  an  arithmetician.  Nature  proclaims  it; 
our  physical  frame  proclaims  it ;  the  written  Word 
proclaims  it.  Listen  to  the  written  Word  :  "  Lift 
up  your  eyes  on  high,  and  behold  who  hath  cre- 
ated these  things,  who  bringeth  out  their  host  by 
number.  He  calleth  them  all  by  their  names, 
because  He  is  strong  in  power;  not  one  faileth." 
Again,  "  He  hath  measured  the  waters  in  the  hol- 
low of  His  hand,  and  meted  out  heaven  with  a 
span,  and  comprehended  the  dust  of  the  earth  in 
a  measure,  and  weighed  the  mountains  in  scales, 
and  the  hills  in  a  balance."  According  to  these 
Scriptures  the  mind  of  God  is  a  mind  that  counts, 
and  weighs,  and  proportions,  and  calculates,  and 
measures,  and  regulates. 

God  is  an  arithmetician.  But  why  ring  the 
changes  upon  this  fact?     There  are  two  reasons 


INSTRUCTION  IN  ARITHMETIC.  349 

why :  first,  this  fact  shows  us  that  our  God  is  He 
to  whom  we  should  offer  the  prayer  of  the  text. 
He  can  teach  us  to  number  as  no  other  can.  He 
can  endow  us  with  the  wisdom  of  calculation,  and 
He  will  if  we  ask  Him.  He  can  make  us  God-like 
in  the  arithmetical  faculty  and  power,  and  He  will 
if  we  ask  Him.  Second,  this  fact  shows  us  that 
the  power  of  calculation,  the  arithmetical  faculty, 
alone  can  give  the  wisdom  requisite  for  the  most 
effective  use  of  things.  God  is  a  proficient  and 
perfect  worker,  and  He  is  so  because  He  calcu- 
lates and  weighs  and  measures  and  estimates  the 
possibilities  of  things.  When  we  ask  instruction 
in  arithmetic,  to  whom  should  we  go  but  unto 
Him?  Handing  back  to  Him  the  old  year  and 
receiving  from  Him  the  new  year,  let  this  be  our 
prayer:  "  Lord,  teach  us  to  number  our  days  that 
we  may  apply  our  hearts  unto  wisdom." 

At  first  thought  it  would  seem  as  though  we 
needed  not  to  be  instructed  on  such  a  subject.  It 
would  seem  as  though  man's  mortality  were  evi- 
dent, and  as  if  it  were  an  impossible  thing  for  him 
to  hide  it  from  himself.  Yes.  But,  nevertheless, 
he  does  hide  it  from  himself,  and  on  this  account 
no  prayer  is  more  important  than  the  prayer  of 
the  text.  The  demonstration  of  human  mortality 
is  in  a  hundred  generations  of  the  dead.  It  is  in 
the  ground  beneath  our  feet,  which  is  billowy  with 
graves  full  of  the  dust  which  once  lived  in  human 
forms  and  spoke  and  was  loved.      It  is  in  the  long 


350  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

line  of  the  one  hundred  thousand  human  lives 
which  every  day  pass  the  boundary-line  from  time 
into  eternity  and  melt  into  nothingness  before  our 
eyes.  It  is  in  every  tick  of  the  clock  which  marks 
the  passage  of  some  immortal  soul  and  declares 
the  death-rate  of  the  world.  It  is  in  our  fading 
vision,  in  our  failing  health,  and  in  our  wrinkles. 
It  is  in  the  dying-beds  and  the  coffined  forms  and 
the  empty  homes  of  the  closing  year.  It  is  in 
the  knell,  and  in  the  shroud,  and  in  the  mattock, 
and  in  the  grave.  Yet,  withal,  humanity  at  large 
does  not  realize  the  mortality  of  humanity.  The 
woman  dresses  and  dines  and  dances,  all  forgetful 
of  the  end.  The  man  busies  himself  in  pleading 
causes,  writing  opinions,  building  railroads,  man- 
aging banks,  all  unconscious  that  he  will  leave 
these  some  day.  So  thoroughly  unrealized  is  the 
mortality  of  man,  that  the  first  condition  of  right 
living,  the  fundamental  thought  of  a  wise  life,  is 
ignored  and  undreamed  of  by  thousands  and  thou- 
sands. There  are  multitudes  who  have  not  put 
the  kingdom  of  God  into  their  lives,  neither  first 
nor  last  nor  anywhere.  Oh,  what  a  condition  for 
a  rational  being  to  be  in,  and  to  be  contented  to 
be  in — unprepared  to  die,  unforgiven,  Christless, 
with  no  everlasting  home,  and  the  days  passing, 
running,  flying.  O  careless  one!  pray  the  prayer 
of  the  text.  Your  madness  is  the  wildest  madness 
in  the  universe,  and  your  folly  is  unmatched  folly. 
I  call  upon  you  to  deal  with  life  in  a  business  way, 


INSTRUCTION  IN  ARITHMETIC.  35  I 

for  there  is  no  business  so  important  and  so  far- 
reaching.  Let  the  chimes  of  the  year  startle  you, 
and  call  you  to  your  Heaven-assigned  mission. 

But  why  should  we  number  our  years?  That 
is  the  question.  Until  that  question  is  answered 
we  can  breathe  no  faith  and  no  desire  into  this 
prayer. 

I  answer,  we  should  not  number  our  days  that 
we  may  mourn  and  fret,  and  become  misanthropic, 
and  sing  dirges,  and  give  up  to  a  premature  old 
age,  saying :  "  Life  is  nothing ;  it  is  so  diminutive 
that  it  is  not  worth  living."  No;  we  are  to  num- 
ber our  days  that  we  may  form  a  just  estimate  of 
the  duration  of  human  life ;  that  we  may  feel  how 
rapidly  the  days  are  passing ;  that  we  may  see 
the  certainty  of  the  end,  and  how  liable  we  are 
to  be  cut  down.  We  are  to  number  our  days  in 
order  that  we  may  be  helped  in  the  business  of 
life  insurance — that  insurance  which  secures  life 
eternally,  and  renders  it  full  of  everlasting  profit. 

But  allow  me  to  use  arithmetic  in  dealing  with 
this  prayer,  given  us  by  this  oldest  of  all  of  the 
sacred  songs  of  praise  possessed  by  the  Church  of 
God.  Let  me  enumerate  some  of  the  teachings 
of  this  prayer,  which  was  first  offered  by  Moses, 
who  composed  this  ninetieth  Psalm  in  the  wilds  of 
the  wilderness.  I  have  three  points  which  I  wish 
to  present.  In  presenting  them  I  wish  only  to 
sketch  them  in  outline  and  not  paint  them  in  full. 
My  first  point  is  this:    - 


352  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

I.  The  prayer  of  the  text  teaches  that  we  are  to 
deal  with  human  life  by  parts. 

We  cannot  profitably  deal  with  life  in  the  whole- 
sale, we  must  deal  with  it  in  the  retail.  That  is 
the  way  God  gives  us  time,  moment  by  moment ; 
just  as  He  gives  the  gold,  grain  by  grain.  We  are 
only  able  to  handle  life  in  short  periods.  A  year! 
No  man  is  equal  to  a  year.  A  month !  No  man 
is  equal  to  a  month.  A  day !  That  is  the  longest 
period  any  man  can  handle.  Let  a  man  finish  up 
a  day  well,  and  he  does  magnificently.  The  best 
works  are  those  which  are  finished  particle  by  par- 
ticle, each  particle  being  wrought  up  to  the  highest 
possible  state  of  perfection.  Besides  this,  there  is 
another  consideration.  If  time  is  to  be  spoiled,  it 
is  better  to  spoil  only  a  day  than  to  spoil  a  month, 
or  to  spoil  a  year.  Brethren,  although  God  gives 
us  time  so  sparsely,  yet  none  of  us  estimates  the 
full  value  of  time.  The  individual  moment  is  not 
looked  upon  as  a  precious  grain  of  gold.  I  could 
prove  this  in  many  ways ;  but  let  us  be  satisfied 
with  one  way.  Take  as  an  example  the  names  of 
our  various  methods  of  getting  rid  of  time.  These 
indicate  our  undervaluation  of  time.  Notice  some 
of  these  names:  "pastime,"  i.e.,  what  consumes 
and  uses  up  the  hours  easily;  "amusement,"  i.e., 
what  prevents  musing  or  meditation ;  "  diversion," 
i.e.,  what  turns  aside;  "entertainment,"  i.e.,  what 
holds  in  suspense  or  equilibrium.  These  words, 
which  are  in  common  use,  indicate  and  reveal  a 


INSTRUCTION  IN  ARITHMETIC.  353 

wrong  condition  of  thought  and  feeling  about  time. 
They  characterize  it  as  a  drug  in  the  market  to  be 
got  rid  of  at  any  price  and  in  any  quantity,  whereas 
it  is  the  most  precious  trust  we  have.  The  chem- 
ist, filling  his  bottle,  pours  carelessly  into  it  a  quan- 
tity of  common  tincture  ;  but  when  he  comes  to  the 
rare  and  potent  compound,  which  the  tincture  is  in- 
tended merely  to  dilute  and  to  carry,  he  measures 
it  drop  by  drop.  So  God,  who  gives  other  things 
in  profusion  and  largely,  when  He  comes  to  give  us 
time,  gives  it  moment  by  moment. 

There  is  a  value  in  dividing  life  into  days  ac- 
cording to  the  text,  and  counting  the  days.  By 
this  method  we  get  two  opposite  views  of  life,  and 
both  views  are  needed.  Because  of  these  two  op- 
posite views,  life  is  neither  overestimated  nor  un- 
derestimated.     By  dividing  life  into  days, 

I.  We  see  how  short  human  life  is.  Its  days 
are  limited.  We  must  see  the  shortness  of  human 
life.  There  is  nothing  that  the  Bible  presents  so 
forcibly.  I  do  not  believe  that  there  is  a  single 
book  in  the  Bible  that  omits  to  present  the  short- 
ness of  human  life.  It  is  presented  not  to  paralyze 
man,  but  to  solemnize  and  stimulate.  The  short- 
ness of  human  life  is  a  cry  against  procrastination. 
It  bids  us  carry  our  purposes  into  execution  at 
once.  It  emphasizes  the  value  of  the  nick  of  time. 
The  shortness  of  life  is  a  protest  against  non- watch- 
fulness. Against  the  man  who  gives  a  whole  week 
to  idleness  it  cries,  "  Shame!"     A  whole  week  is 


a 


354  0UR  BEST  MOODS. 

seven  days.  A  man  can  travel  from  Sandy  Hook 
to  the  Golden  Gate  in  seven  days.  The  shortness 
of  life  shows  the  wondrous  grace  of  God.  He 
grants  an  eternity  of  glory  as  a  reward  of  a  few 
years  of  holy  living. 

2.  But  we  reach  a  second  and  opposite  view  of 
human  life  by  dividing  it  into  days  and  counting 
the  days.  We  see  how  long  it  is.  It  seems  far 
longer  when  looked  at  in  days  than  it  does  when 
looked  at  in  months  and  years.  When  we  take  a 
day  and  see  how  much  can  be  crowded  into  a 
day,  and  then  when  we  see  how  many  days  are  in 
a  life,  life  seems  great.  Divide  anything  up  into 
parts  and  you  magnify  it.  You  are  acquainted 
with  the  way  a  certain  wise  husband  took  to  give 
his  wife  an  idea  of  how  much  one  thousand  dollars 
is.  She  had  no  idea  of  money.  Her  purchases 
were  enormous.  It  happened  one  day  that  her 
eye  fell  upon  a  magnificent  gem-ring  and  she 
coveted  it.  It  cost  one  thousand  dollars.  But 
what  were  one  thousand  dollars  to  her  in  compar- 
ison with  the  ring?  Of  course  her  husband  con- 
sented to  its  purchase.  What  else  could  a  dutiful 
and  affectionate  husband  do?  But  he  struck  upon 
this  method  of  educating  his  wife  concerning  the 
great  price  of  the  ring.  He  instructed  his  banker 
to  send  her  the  one  thousand  dollars  in  small  pieces 
— pennies,  dimes,  quarters.  In  came  the  money, 
bag  full  and  bag  full.  She  never  had  such  an  idea 
of  a  thousand  dollars  before.     When  the  money 


INSTRUCTION  IN  ARITHMETIC.  355 

was  piled  before  her  it  positively  alarmed  her. 
The  price  of  the  ring  went  up  a  hundredfold  and 
was  considered  at  once  an  extravagance,  which  she 
of  her  own  option  abandoned.  A  human  life  broken 
up  into  days  is  like  one  thousand  dollars  broken  up 
into  coppers  and  fractional  silver  pieces. 

Know  the  value  of  days  !  That  is  the  way  to 
reach  a  high  appreciation  of  a  human  life.  But 
how  can  I  know  the  value  of  days  ?  In  this  way. 
Mark  how  much  of  history  has  been  crowded  into 
single  days.  Let  me  give  you  one  instance  to 
study  at  your  leisure.  I  take  it  from  the  life  of 
Jesus  Christ  as  recorded  by  the  Evangelist  Mat- 
thew. Have  you  ever  noticed  the  closing  chap- 
ters of  Matthew's  Gospel,  those  chapters  which 
include  the  last  third  of  the  Gospel?  Have  you 
ever  noticed  how  few  of  the  days  of  Jesus  are  re- 
corded in  these  chapters?  See  what  large  space 
is  given  to  the  closing  twenty-four  hours  of  His 
earthly  life.  The  history  of  that  one  day  fills 
chapter  after  chapter.  These  chapters  occupied 
with  the  last  day  of  His  life  give  us  an  idea  of  the 
grandeur  of  His  whole  life.  When  we  pray,  "  Lord, 
teach  us  to  number  our  days,"  we  ask  God  that 
we  may  see  somewhat  of  the  fullness  of  work  and 
glory  of  which  our  life  is  capable.  The  second 
chief  point  which  I  wish  to  present  is : 

II.  The  prayer  of  the  text  teaches  us  that  there 
is  a  right  way  and  a  wrong  zvay  of  counting  the 
days  of  human  life. 


356  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

All  past  days  are  not  to  be  counted  in  reckoning 
up  the  life  which  is  behind  us,  although  all  coming 
days  are  to  be  counted  in  reckoning  life  as  it  comes. 
It  is  not  good  spiritual  arithmetic  to  treat  the  past 
and  the  future  alike.  There  are  days  in  the  past 
which  have  a  history,  but  there  are  days  there 
which  have  no  history.  There  are  historic  gaps 
in  life.  There  are  blanks  in  life.  Take  a  concrete 
case.  There  is  a  silence  of  a  whole  year  in  the 
biography  of  David.  For  twelve  months  he  sung 
no  song  of  praise,  thought  no  great  thoughts,  and 
sent  nothing  good  down  to  posterity.  Both  harp 
and  conscience  were  silent.  When  he  lived  in  a 
spiritual  atmosphere  and  did  spiritual  deeds  his 
life  was  recorded ;  but  when  he  stepped  down 
from  spirituality  into  carnality  there  were  great 
blank  leaves  in  his  book  of  life.  Prior  to  the  pe- 
riod when  the  prophet  Nathan  pointed  the  finger 
of  reproof  at  him  and  brought  his  conscience  back 
to  activity  there  was  an  awful  waste  of  a  whole 
year. 

What  we  notice  in  the  story  of  David  we  notice 
in  the  story  of  Israel.  There  was  a  blank  in  the 
story  of  the  Jewish  nation,  a  waste  of  forty  years. 
This  wilderness  period  proclaimed  to  the  world 
that  golden  opportunities  had  been  trampled  under 
foot.  But  this  gap  is  nothing  to  the  gap  which 
has  since  followed.  What  a  historic  gap  there  has 
been  in  the  history  of  the  Jews,  the  covenant- 
people   of   God,  during  the  Christian   era!      The 


INSTR UCTION  IN  ARITHME TIC.  357 

gap  consists  of  centuries  of  vagabondage  and  wan- 
dering. If  the  Israelites  had  been  true  to  them- 
selves and  to  God  they  might  have  had  nineteen 
centuries  of  magnificent  history.  We  cannot  for- 
get what  they  produced  during  the  fifteen  centu- 
ries prior  to  the  coming  of  Christ.  They  gave  the 
world  the  moral  law  which  has  been  the  basis  of 
all  true  and  helpful  legislation  ever  since.  They 
built  up  the  Book  of  God,  which  to  this  day  in- 
structs mankind  and  leads  all  true  human  think- 
ing. We  owe  them  our  loftiest  conceptions  of 
God,  our  purest  morals,  and  our  highest  ideals  of 
human  rights.  How  grandly  the  inspired  Paul 
lauds  them !  His  words  flame  and  glow.  "  Who 
are  the  Israelites?  To  them  pertaineth  the  adop- 
tion, and  the  glory,  and  the  covenants,  and  the 
giving  of  the  law,  and  the  service  of  God,  and  the 
promises ;  whose  are  the  fathers,  and  of  whom,  as 
concerning  the  flesh,  Christ  came,  who  is  over  all, 
God  blessed  forever.  Amen."  The  living  which 
Paul,  with  an  honest  and  patriotic  pride,  recounts 
is  grand  living.  Why  was  not  that  living  dupli- 
cated and  reduplicated  during  the  past  centuries? 
The  answer  is  plain :  the  Israelites  proved  untrue 
to  their  God.  They  crucified  their  Messiah,  and 
kept  recrucifying  Him.  Nineteen  hundred  years, 
and  no  prophet ;  nineteen  hundred  years,  and  no 
world-thinker  and  leader — nothing  but  a  by- word, 
nothing  but  wandering.  What  a  lamentable  blank! 
and  that,  too,  while   it  was  among  the  possibilities 


358  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

for   Jerusalem  to   continue   the   city  of  God,  the 
leader  of  all  humanity. 

We  need  to  be  taught  on  this  line,  viz.,  what 
days  to  count  as  we  review  the  past.  We  need 
to  be  taught  how  to  distinguish  between  moral 
units  and  moral  ciphers.  Days  spent  for  self  and 
in  the  service  of  the  world  are  moral  ciphers ;  only 
days  spent  for  the  glory  of  Christ  are  moral  units, 
moral  tens,  moral  hundreds,  and  moral  thousands. 
Everything  which  has  been  done  for  Christ  is  glo- 
riously immortal,  but  that  and  that  only  is  glo- 
riously immortal. 

' '  We  live  in  deeds,  not  years ;  in  thoughts,  not  breaths  ; 
In  feelings,  not  in  figures  on  a  dial. 
We  should  count  time  by  heart-throbs. 
He  lives  most  who  thinks  most,  feels  the  noblest, 
And  acts  the  best." 

Methuselah's  nine  hundred  and  sixty-nine  years 
are  no  match  for  the  one  hundred  and  twenty 
years  of  Moses. 

Fronting  the  new  year,  I  ask  you,  Are  you  sat- 
isfied with  the  character  of  your  days?  Are  you 
worked  up  to  your  highest  possibilities?  See  you 
nothing  beyond? 

Here  you  are  at  the  age  of  twenty :  with  the 
faults  of  childhood  upon  you  still ;  pettish,  un- 
governed,  insatiable.  A  soul  twenty  years  of  age 
should  have  better  characteristics  than  these.  Are 
you  what  you  would  be? 

Here  you  are  at  thirty :  with  the  faults  of  youth 


INSTRUCTION  IN  ARITHMETIC.  359 

upon  you  still ;  vain,  inconsiderate,  pleasure-loving. 
A  soul  at  thirty  years  of  age  should  be  considerable 
of  a  man.  Look  at  Christ  at  thirty.  His  plans 
of  life  were  matured.  Magnificent  purposes  were 
beating  in  His  heart.  At  thirty  He  undertook  the 
redemption  of  the  world.  A  man  of  thirty  should 
have  boundless  hopes  and  daring  enterprises. 

Here  you  are  at  forty :  still  wearing  the  badge 
of  early  folly ;  proud,  passionate,  sensual.  The 
soul  of  forty  should  be  characterized  by  a  face 
firmly  fixed  heavenward.  The  man  of  forty  should 
be  under  complete  control,  all  his  faculties  alive  to 
goodness,  his  character  beautiful  for  its  wholeness 
and  oneness.  At  forty  are  you  what  you  would 
like  to  be? 

Here  you  are  at  sixty :  but  you  are  not  yet 
wise  with  the  experience  of  life.  Selfish  still, 
unsympathetic  still,  under  the  chain  of  evil  habit 
still.  A  man  of  sixty  should  be  a  fire-pillar  in 
society,  a  formulator  of  public  sentiment,  a  whole- 
some example,  a  wise  and  respected  judge,  a  con- 
science in  the  community.  The  outlines  of  finality 
and  perfection  should  be  shining  in  his  character. 
At  sixty  are  you  what  you  would  like  to  be? 

Ask  your  soul  the  question  :  Soul,  understandest 
thou  what  true  manhood  is?  What  is  it  in  man 
that  is  man?  What  differentiates  him  from  the 
animal  creation  around  him  ?  It  is  thy  faculties, 
O  Soul.  Broad  intellect,  moral  sense,  the  spiritual 
nature,  the  endowment  of  sentiments  which  inspire 


360  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

the  idea  of  purity,  of  self-denial,  of  holy  love,  and 
of  supersensuousness.  Art  thou  observing  the  law 
of  love,  and  living  above  the  things  of  self?  Art 
thou  taking  hold  of  invisible  qualities,  invisible 
states,  and  the  invisible  realities  which  become  the 
child  of  God?  This  is  the  only  way  to  make  life 
grand,  and  to  fill  our  days  and  years  with  that 
which  is  valuable  and  worthy  of  being  counted. 

III.  The  prayer  of  the  text  teaches  ?ts  that  God's 
desire  is  that  we  shall  spend  human  life  wisely. 

That  means  that  we  shall  live  for  God  ;  for  there 
is  no  wise  life  apart  from  Him.  All  who  ignore 
God  in  life  are  denominated  fools  by  the  Good 
Book.  And  it  is  wonderful  how  many  fools  are 
introduced  to  us  by  the  Bible.  Men  fools  and 
women  fools.  Just  see!  There  is  the  builder 
who  built  his  house  upon  the  sand — a  man  fool. 
There  is  the  rich  farmer  who  laid  up  riches  in 
barns  instead  of  in  his  soul — another  man  fool. 
There  are  the  five  sleeping  watchers  with  un- 
trimmed  lamps — a  whole  troop  of  fools,  women. 
The  world  is  filled  with  men  and  women  lacking 
wisdom. 

There  are  different  types  of  life,  and  wisdom  in 
living  consists  in  choosing  the  highest  type,  and 
living  it.  There  is  the  Abraham  type,  and  there 
is  the  Lot  type.  According  to  spiritual  arithmetic, 
the  values  of  these  lives  contrast  but  do  not  com- 
pare. Lot's  life  shows  us  how  contracted  a  man's 
religious  life  may  be,  and  yet  that  man  be  a  child 


INSTRUCTION  IN  ARITHMETIC.  36 1 

of  God.  Abraham's  life  shows  us  how  grand  the 
religious  life  of  a  man  may  be  and  ought  to  be. 
It  shows  us  God's  ideal  for  His  children.  Abra- 
ham was  cultured,  under  the  tuition  of  God,  in 
spiritual  arithmetic,  and  he  regulated  his  life  by 
this  arithmetic.  Spiritual  arithmetic  taught  him, 
each  day,  to  add  to  his  graces,  and  to  subtract 
from  his  sinful  habits,  and  to  multiply  his  holy 
endeavors,  and  to  divide  his  duties,  and  to  propor- 
tionate his  thanksgivings  to  his  mercies. 

Fronting  the  new  year,  let  us  remember  that 
our  life  is  before  us  as  the  keyboard  of  the  organ 
is  before  the  musician.  The  musician  knows  the 
possibilities  of  the  keyboard.  Through  it  he  can 
translate  into  real  life  the  whole  world  of  music. 
Through  it  he  can  make  the  master-genius  of  the 
past  live  again.  Through  it  he  can  resurrect  the 
grand  musical  thoughts  of  the  old  masters,  and 
send  them  vibrating  anew  in  the  air,  and  thrilling 
anew  through  human  souls. 

Fronting  the  new  year,  let  us  remember  that 
life  is  before  us  as  the  broad  canvas  is  before  the 
landscape-painter.  The  painter  knows  the  possi- 
bilities of  the  canvas.  He  knows  that  there  are 
scenes  in  nature  not  yet  translated  into  the  colors 
of  his  art.  There  was  a  time,  I  believe,  when 
landscape-painters  were  mourning  the  poverty  of 
their  subjects.  They  felt  that  all  of  the  grand 
outlooks  had  been  committed  to  the  canvas,  and 
that    the   future  would    consist   only   in   copying. 


362  OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

Their  anxiety  was  useless.  Soon  there  was  dis- 
covered an  unknown  marvel  of  nature,  an  un- 
explored solitude  of  grandeur.  God  opened  the 
Yosemite,  full  of  rich  and  new  subjects  for  brush 
and  pencil.  Men  talk  of  the  limitations  of  life. 
To  the  Christian  there  are  no  limitations  of  life. 
The  possibilities  of  human  life  are  as  inexhaustible 
and  as  illimitable  as  the  endowment  and  the  dura- 
tion of  the  immortal  soul.  This  is  what  we  wish 
to  write  upon  our  hearts  as  we  leave  the  old  year 
and  step  across  the  threshold  into  the  new  year. 
Our  years  are  numbered,  but  the  influences  pos- 
sible to  our  years  are  unnumbered  and  never- 
dying.  We  can,  by  the  help  of  divine  grace,  fill 
the  coming  year  with  deeds  as  eternal  as  the  eter- 
nal life  of  God.  To  do  this  is  to  apply  our  hearts 
unto  wisdom.  To  do  this  is  to  realize  the  prayer 
of  the  text. 


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Alleviative  Interpretation.  By  Rev.  R.  S.  MacArthur, 
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Old  Testament  Difficulties;  and  their 

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yet  from  the  standpoint  of  a  practical  pastor,  such  ques- 
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was  the  Garden  of  Eden  ?  Was  the  World  Made  in  Six 
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Date  Due 

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